Funeral protests raise question: What's enough, what's too much?
Here's an instance when the right to free speech needs reasonable limits.
The Minnesota legislature is considering limiting protests within 300 feet of funerals and burial grounds.
The reason: a Topeka, Kan.-backed group you may have heard of, that demonstrates at military funerals on the brokeback premise that U.S. soldiers are dying as a punishment from God for this nation's tolerance of gays.
Wisconsin and South Dakota have already passed legislation limiting such protests. Ten other states are considering them.
But some First Amendment scholars say some of the laws are too broad and may violate the Constitution.
However, buffer zones seem to strike a reasonable blanace between preserving the protesters' right to free speech (as tasteless as their views may be) and allowing families the room to grieve in relative peace.
Comments (5)
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I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on my blog, but are funerals "public" events? There are some protections for "private" people (unlike "public" persons like movie stars, politicians, etc.), aren't there? I don't know if protesting at a private event gets the same protections and would love to hear a constitutional scholar's opinion. It doesn't seem to me that simply enlisting and fighting for your country makes you a public person like a movie star, much less makes your family public. Do the same rules -- and same protections for protestors -- apply?
Posted on March 6, 2006 6:49 AM
No doubt, Fred Phelps is ready for court action over the protests. He and several of his children are trained lawyers, and they finance their travels by winning court cases over their cruelty.
The man seems to glory in the ugliness of his religious ideas and goes out of his way to get people to revile him. He's one sick puppy, and I expect there will be a huge sigh of relief when he finally leaves the public stage.
Does he need to be silenced? We'd all be better off if he would mind his own business and leave it at that. But he seems to be an attention freak, and there's not a lot you can legally do with someone like that.
Posted on March 6, 2006 10:05 AM
That's a good question, Sue. As I understand it, such protests are allowed, but it is OK to attach restrictions, as is the case with protesters at abortion clinics. I'll do some more checking.
Posted on March 6, 2006 11:10 AM
As far as most privately owned cemeteries go, protestors are not allowed on the premises. If they come on the property and refuse to leave, they are trespassers.
The same prohibition applies to media. Unless specific permission has been given by the deceased's family, no media are allowed.
Posted on March 6, 2006 6:08 PM
This is about Time:
U.S. Prosecutors Target Aryan Brotherhood
Posted on March 6, 2006 7:50 PM