U.S. Supreme Court lets ruling allowing funeral protests stand

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider an appeal case from Missouri; allowing, for now, the picketing of funerals. A federal appeals court in St. Louis had ruled that Missouri cannot enforce a law banning protests near funerals until a lawsuit challenging the law is resolved. The U.S. Supreme Court denied Missouri's appeal without comment.

State lawmakers in 2006 enacted two new laws creating buffer zones between demonstrators and funerals and processions. The legislation targets a Topeka, Kan., church whose members have picketed outside the funerals of people killed during the Iraq war, stating they believe soldiers are dying as divine punishment because the United States harbors homosexuals.

Months after the laws took effect, Westboro Baptist Church member Shirley Phelps-Roper filed a lawsuit seeking to have the protest bans tossed out over free speech concerns. The St. Louis appeals court said Missouri must allow the protests, and not enforce the ban, until the lawsuit is decided. The decision was then sent to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Numerous states have passed laws restricting protests at funerals, and some have been challenged. For its version, Missouri lawmakers crafted two largely similar measures to create a fallback position in case one is invalidated by the courts.

The primary law bars protests near any funeral, procession or memorial service from an hour before until an hour after the service. The secondary measure specifically states that protesters must stay back at least 300 feet. Both provisions levy the same penalty -- up to six months in jail and a $500 fine for a first offense and up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine for repeat offenders.

Local demonstrations

In June 2005 members of the Westboro Baptist Church protested outside the funeral of Spc. Brian Romines, an Army National Guard soldier killed by a roadside bomb while on a tour of duty in Iraq, in Anna, Ill. The church planned a protest at the funeral of Jackson native Jeremy Shank, killed in Iraq in September 2006, but was unable to do so when it lost a challenge to the Missouri law.

Phelps-Roper, who also challenged a similar ban in Ohio, is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri. Lawyers are still going through evidence for the case, and a trial on the merits of the constitutional challenge could come in July 2010.

ACLU attorney Tony Rothert said Monday the lawsuit was prompted by two provisions in Missouri's law. He said that without a specific distance requirement and a roving buffer zone that follows the procession, Phelps-Roper couldn't be guaranteed the ability to lawfully protest.

"It bans protests in public areas and public streets and sidewalks in a way that the Supreme Court has never allowed to happen," Rothert said.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said the Supreme Court's decision is preliminary, and his office will continue fighting in court to preserve the ban and protect families mourning the death of loved ones.

"We are trying to stop these protests in Missouri, and the General Assembly has given us instructions to do everything we can to allow military families to bury their loved ones in peace," said Koster, a Democrat.

Two St. Joseph lawmakers sponsored the bans after members of the Kansas church protested outside the 2005 funeral of a soldier from their legislative districts.

Matt Sanders of the Southeast Missourian contributed to this report.