ACLJ asks Federal Court to Uphold Constitutionality of Missouri Law Banning Disruptions of Military Funerals

September 28, 2006

(Washington, DC) The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) said today it has filed an amicus brief in federal court in Jefferson City, Missouri supporting the state of Missouris efforts to defend a state law that bans protests at funerals including a national effort underway by a Kansas church to disrupt military funerals by berating the families of military men and women who have died in combat.

The state of Missouri has not only acted properly but constitutionally in creating this state law and we urge the federal court to keep this much needed statute in place, said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ.  The law protects the family and friends of these fallen military heroes from inappropriate protests by those whose only desire is to disrupt the peace and privacy of a solemn ceremony.  These actions represent a gross distortion of the First Amendment.  The ACLJ is a staunch defender of the First Amendment, but these protests cross the constitutional line.  The Missouri law properly underscores the fact that such inappropriate protests violate reasonable time, place, and manner regulations of speech that have been repeatedly recognized by courts including the Supreme Court of the United States.

The ACLJ friend-of-the-court brief was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Jefferson City, Missouri in support of the state of Missouri which was sued in July by a member of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) of Topeka, Kansas who challenged the Missouri law banning protests and picketing at funerals.  Missouri acted after protestors disrupted the funeral of Army Spc. Edward Myers in St. Joseph. 

In its brief, the ACLJ says it is deeply concerned about the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church and adds:   Families and friends of fallen United States military personnel should be able to lay their loved ones to rest, and to memorialize their heroic lives, free from demonstrations which invade their right of privacy, worsen the profound emotional suffering that accompanies bereavement, and cause public disorder.  While the ACLJ actively defends the free speech rights of hundreds of individuals and groups in state and federal courts across the country, the ACLJ is also committed to the basic principle of law that the First Amendment does not give citizens a blank check to say whatever they want, however they want, wherever they want especially when the rights of others are violated.

The brief also argues:  The First Amendment right to express unpopular viewpoints does not include the right to target a captive audience with speech calculated to inflict psychological distress. Frisby v. Schultz, 487 U.S. 474, 487 (1988).  In any number of different settings, WBCs message would be protected speech under the First Amendment.  In the context of funerals for American military personnel, however, WBCs protests are a grotesque intrusion on the privacy rights of bereaved families and an insult to the memories of those who gave the last full measure of devotion.  (quoting Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, Nov. 19, 1863)

The ACLJ has announced it will assist states and localities that face challenges by WBC and the ACLU to derail legislative efforts that curtail the protests.  In addition to Missouri, 29 other states have passed measures limiting protests at funerals.  The ACLJ is being assisted in the Missouri case by Todd A. Nielsen, an attorney in Kansas City.

Led by Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, the American Center for Law and Justice focuses on constitutional law and is based in Washington, D.C.