Federal Judge Nixes Law Barring Funeral Protests
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
(CNSNews.com) - A federal judge in Kentucky has ruled that a Kentucky law barring protests within 300 feet of military funerals and memorial services is too broad and may not be enforced.
The temporary injunction comes in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky. The ACLU argued that the Kentucky law went too far in restricting freedom of speech when it barred protesters from saying hateful things to mourners at military funerals.
“Certainly the Commonwealth has an interest in showing respect and compassion for the deceased and for their families, but we cannot allow lawmakers to trample upon the First Amendment in the process,” said ACLU of Kentucky staff attorney Lili Lutgens. “Today, the federal court recognized that even speech that most people find distasteful is still protected by the Constitution.”
Distasteful speech is at the heart of the case. A Topeka, Kansas, group calling itself the Westboro Baptist Church has been traveling to military funerals around the country, telling mourners that “God hates fags” and that “God has irreversibly cursed America” for its tolerance of homosexuality.
The group says the deaths of U.S. servicemen and servicewomen in Iraq is God’s punishment for an immoral America, and that’s the message it brings to military families mourning the loss of their loved ones.
The taunts aimed at grieving military families have prompted Kentucky and other states to pass laws barring protests within a certain distance of military funerals. Even Congress has passed a law barring protests at military funerals in federal cemeteries.
But in her ruling on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell, a George W. Bush appointee, 
wrote that the 300-foot buffer zone “is large enough that it would restrict communications intended for the general public on a matter completely unrelated to the funeral.”
Westboro Baptist Church reportedly issued a statement Tuesday night saying that its members will now picket the funeral of a Kentucky National Guard soldier who died last week in Iraq.
The ACLU argued in court papers that the new laws are so broad, they could make it a crime to whistle while walking down the street within earshot of a funeral or to stop for a conversation on a public sidewalk adjacent to a funeral home or place of worship while a funeral service is in progress.
According to the ACLU, the laws may even prevent groups like the Patriot Guard Riders, a group of pro-military bikers, from being close enough to support the families of soldiers who have died in Iraq during military funeral protests.
On its website, the Westboro Baptist Church includes a list of the military funerals it plans to picket in the weeks ahead. It “thanks God” for dead American troops and wishes for many more deaths in Iraq.
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