I can not think of anything worse than that assignment. Bless your heart!

Depending on what you want to do.... you could talk about the importance of the freedom of speech and how important it is, and how the military serviceman protect it. And that applies to idiots like that particular bunch of nutbags. Of course you could also point out the bias in that as well. We have freedom of speech but we can get arrested for breach of peace without actually talking as well.

As a current Sergeant of Marines, I understand your plight. While I agree with free speech, I could never defend their funeral protests.

Thank you for your service. As a Marine, you defended that right. And as a Lawyer, you will have to defend your client whether or not you agree with them. This paper is the first step to putting your own prejudice (at it makes me cringe to use that word, seriously) behind you so that you can defend what may be indefensible. All the best, dude!

Op i'm so sorry for this. And I'm sorry you didn't get more sympathy from the other posters who are clearly uneducated on just how f'ed up the WBC is. 1. They are recognized as a hate group. So would you all be saying the same thing if he were asked to defend say the KKK? 2. It's not just soldiers and Marines funerals they picket. They go to gay ppls funerals, ppl who have died from aids. The HOLOCAUST musuem in dc. 3. Saying they are happy for all the earthquakes and want more to kill all the bad people. 4. They make a habit of stomping on the American flag. These are a few examples of the many many messed up things WBC does. Oh and the Marine Corps is a brotherhood. Could you defend someone who picketted your brother/sisters funeral with signs saying "YES!! We are happy he/she is dead!"

Oh, I did a similar assignment for a moot court competition a few years ago. I can message you with a bunch of relevant SCOTUS cases (you know, to help you double-check your research...).

WBC protested my high school because there was a story in our local paper about how accepting we are of our homosexual students. WBC are assholes.

Maybe being a lawyer isn't for you if you can't even handle your first assignment. Keep your personal opinions out of it if you want to succeed. :s

Having BTDT (law school, not the Corps) a big part of it is learning to separate your personal feelings from your client's situation and make the best case you can for your client. You don't have to like them or agree with them to do that.

Probably a left wing (nut) professor wanting to promote his/her agenda. Good luck my jar head friend, Signed Retired Squid