I will stand up for pittstownkiller's position as well. I don't think it's crazy to expect law enforcement to take credible threats seriously. For instance, a woman who has a protective order against her husband who then notifies police that he's been harassing her might rightly expect protection. In fact, we might think that if the police ignore a credible threat and the wife were then assualted, then the police should be liable in some way. Now, the Supreme Court disagreed, but it was sharply divided.In the same way, I don't think it's a stretch to believe that even Fred Phelps or whatever horrible person you can think of, should be entitled to have authorities take known threats seriously. And if the authorities choose to ignore those threats on the basis of Phelps' abhorrent views, that implicates the First Amendment. They shouldn't condition his right to protection on the basis of protected conduct.Again, this position isn't supported under Civil Rights Act precedent, but it's a reasonable position.