Who is protesting military funerals

Ricketts 8 th Cir. In a related matter, the United States Supreme Court protected the right of the Westboro Baptist Church to engage in lawful protest outside a church in Maryland in Snyder v. Phelps Albert Snyder sued the Phelpses for intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy, and civil conspiracy.

The Fourth U. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed on appeal. The U. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. He also emphasized that the protestors conducted themselves peacefully on public streets pursuant to police directives and followed the laws. David L. Hudson, Jr. As a result of the threat, Arizona passed an emergency bill that banned protests within feet of funerals.

Members were outnumbered at the funeral by advocates , who sang Christmas carols and held signs of support for the Edwards family. The high court decided in an decision that the church's actions were protected under free speech.

Westboro has picketed numerous military funerals dating before and after Snyder's. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, who sponsored the provisions.

Snowe, who has complained about the partisan divide in Washington, expressed gratitude to Congress for passing the bill "to protect the solemn moments of military funerals from outside disruption. The Westboro church, led by pastor Fred Phelps, believes God is punishing the United States for "the sin of homosexuality" through events including soldiers' deaths.

Members have traveled the country to protest at military funerals and other events, evoking outrage by shouting at grieving families and displaying such signs as "Thank God for dead soldiers," "God blew up the troops" and "AIDS cures fags.

Funerals are one of the few events where "people will take a really serious look at really moral matters of heaven and hell," Drain said. The purpose of the church's protests was to influence the people attending the funerals, he added. The new restrictions expand on provisions in a federal law passed in that banned protests within feet of national cemeteries from an hour before a funeral to an hour after it, with violators facing fines and up to a year in prison.

Anthony Rothert, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union who represented the church members, criticized the court for carving out a new exception to the broad right of free speech on public sidewalks. He said the Supreme Court had previously recognized exceptions outside private residences and abortion clinics. He said the church members had not yet decided whether to appeal, but the issue would likely come before the Supreme Court again.

The church is challenging several other laws, including statutes in Missouri and Nebraska.