The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a grieving father's pain over mocking protests at his Marine son's funeral must yield to First Amendment protections for free speech. All but one justice sided with a fundamentalist church that has stirred outrage with raucous demonstrations contending God is punishing the military for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

The 8-1 decision in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., was the latest in a line of court rulings that, as Chief Justice John Roberts said in his opinion for the court, protects "even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate."

The decision ended a lawsuit by Albert Snyder, who sued church members for the emotional pain they caused by showing up at his son Matthew's funeral. As they have at hundreds of other funerals, the Westboro members held signs with provocative messages, including "Thank God for dead soldiers," ''You're Going to Hell," ''God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11," and one that combined the U.S. Marine Corps motto, Semper Fi, with a slur against gay men.

Justice Samuel Alito, the lone dissenter, said Snyder wanted only to "bury his son in peace." Instead, Alito said, the protesters "brutally attacked" Matthew Snyder to attract public attention. "Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case," he said.

A second Senate committee has endorsed adding an intermediate appeals court to West Virginia's judicial system.

The three-judge court would hear both criminal and civil cases under the version advanced Monday by the Senate Finance Committee. It heads to the full Senate.

The court would handle appeals filed with the state Supreme Court that the justices decide not to consider. Its decisions would set legal precedent and could be appealed to the Supreme Court.

The governor would appoint the three judges, nominated by a selection committee.

A commission that studied West Virginia's judiciary recommended an intermediate appeals court in 2009. Critics question the potential cost, and also cite how the Supreme Court revamped its appeals process last year.

The South Dakota Supreme Court will announce Monday whether it will allow expanded media coverage of trial courts.

The Supreme Court has allowed electronic recording equipment and cameras when it hears appeals, but those devices are not allowed in other court proceedings.

Chief Justice David Gilbertson appointed a committee of judges, lawyers and the media to study the issue.

It developed two proposals. One would allow cameras and recording equipment only if the judge and all parties agree. The other would presume they can be used unless the presiding judge thinks they would interfere with the fairness of the proceedings.

Kentucky appears to have violated a judge's order stopping all executions and preventing the state from taking any action to carry out a lethal injection by purchasing a key drug used in the process, an attorney for several death row inmates said Thursday.

Public defender David Barron wants to bar the state from ever using the 18 grams of sodium thiopental the state acquired this month.

Despite a national shortage of sodium thiopental, Kentucky bought enough of the fast-acting narcotic from a Georgia company to carry out three lethal injections. The packaging indicated the drug was made by Sandoz International GmbH, a European generics company, Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet spokeswoman Jennifer Brislin said. The packaging had an expiration date of May 2014.

In two filings in Franklin Circuit Court, Barron said that by even purchasing the drug, Kentucky violated the injunction handed down in September by Judge Phillip Shepherd. The Kentucky Supreme Court is reviewing a judge's order in one case regarding the state's lethal injection procedures and has halted all executions in the interim.

A Superior Court justice has ruled that six Maine counties overcharged a Cumberland businessman who requested public records under the state's Freedom of Access law.

Justice Thomas Warren ruled that fees charged by Androscoggin, Aroostook, Cumberland, Knox, Penobscot and York counties -- in response to a request by John Simpson -- can't be justified.

The Sun Journal of Lewiston says Simpson, owner of MacImage of Maine, filed Freedom of Access requests in 2009 for digital copies of records in the six counties' registries to create his own document database. Among the prices quoted by the counties were $12 million by Cumberland, and $4 million by Penobscot at $1 per page for 4 million pages.

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal challenging campaign disclosure laws in Washington state.

The court on Tuesday let stand without comment a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the state's disclosure requirements. Human Life of Washington challenged the requirements as a violation of the First Amendment. The group didn't want to reveal its donors in a 2008 campaign opposing an assisted suicide ballot measure.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the disclosure requirements "have become an important part of our First Amendment tradition."