ACLJ Offers Legal Assistance to Keep Inappropriate Protests From Disrupting Military Funerals Honoring American War Heroes

September 5, 2006

(Washington, DC) The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) announced today it is launching a nationwide campaign to offer assistance to cities and states who want to ensure that American military men and women who have died in combat can be buried without disruptive and inappropriate protests.

The men and women of the Armed Forces who have given their lives for our freedoms deserve our honor and respect, said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ.  The family and friends of these fallen heroes must be afforded peace and privacy at funeral services.  It is very troubling that a small group of protestors which has the backing of the ACLU is focused on trying to disrupt and berate these families.  These actions represent a gross distortion of the First Amendment and Supreme Court precedent clearly gives local governments and states the authority to act to prohibit this kind of disrespectful and hateful behavior.  We stand ready to work with local and state governments who need legal assistance to protect the rights of our fallen military heroes, their families and friends.

Sekulow added:  While we fully support free speech, the law has long recognized that reasonable time, place, and manner regulations of speech are constitutional, especially at events like a funeral.  Simply put, these disruptive protests do not represent the time, place or the appropriate manner to protest the war.  The law is clear that these funeral protestors do not have an absolute right to protest whenever, wherever, and however they want to without regard to how others are affected by their actions.

The ACLJ supported the Respect for Americas Fallen Heroes Act which prohibits demonstrations on or immediately adjacent to federally operated cemeteries during funerals.  The Act received nearly unanimous approval by Congress and was signed into law by President Bush.  The Act also stated:  It is the sense of Congress that each State should enact legislation to restrict demonstrations near any military funeral. 

The ACLJ already has provided legal advice and recommendations to one city in Oregon and is offering its legal services to assist local and state governments that are working to protect the rights of military families.  The ACLJ says it stands ready to meet challenges by the ACLU aimed a derailing legislative efforts to curtail the protests.

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