A Supreme Court decision upheld an appeals court ruling that threw out a $5 million judgment to the father of a dead Marine who sued members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka after they picketed his son's funeral.

Justice Samuel Alito was the lone dissenter.

The case involved the funeral for Matthew Snyder who died in Iraq in 2006.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, who have picketed military funerals for several years, decided to protest outside the Westminster, Md., church where Snyder's funeral was to be held.

The Rev. Fred Phelps and other family members who make up most of the Westboro Baptist Church have picketed many military funerals to draw attention to their view that U.S. deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

The pickets use signs that read, "Thank God for dead soldiers," "You're Going to Hell," "God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11," as well as signs with a slur against gay men.

Albert Snyder filed a lawsuit accusing the Phelpses of intentionally inflicting emotional distress. He won $11 million at trial, later reduced by a judge to $5 million. The case went to the Supreme Court after the federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., threw out the verdict and said the Constitution shielded the church members from liability.