Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Listen to audio from the recent federal court hearing for Phelps v. the City of Manchester. Plus, Judy DeRose filed a motion to dismiss her employment discrimination lawsuit against the City of Manchester.
The United States Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals made available the audio of the oral arguments presented in downtown St. Louis by attorneys in the Phelps Roper v. City of Manchester case Jan. 9. (You can listen to the audio of the case in the PDF/Video portion of the story) In 2010, the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, challenged a city of Manchester ordinance restricting protests or pickets at funerals. The Westboro Baptist Church regularly pickets military funerals with signs such as "thank God for dead soldiers." "I think we all can agree that defending our ordinance is the right thing to do. The cost of defending the case has been absorbed by our insurance company," Gunn said. He …
Monday, January 9, 2012
Monday, a panel of judges questioned whether or not Manchester’s law regulating funeral protests was too broad and unconstitutional.
Monday morning, at the Thomas F. Eagleton Courthouse in downtown St. Louis, attorneys representing both sides in the Shirley Phelps v. City of Manchester lawsuit answered questions and made their case before a full panel of judges of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. No ruling was made at Monday's hearing that comes after a court ruled the city of Manchester's ordinance to ban protests within 300 feet of a funeral was unconstitutional. In 2010, the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, challenged a city of Manchester ordinance restricting protests or pickets at funerals. The Westboro Baptist Church regularly pickets military funerals with signs such as "thank God for dead soldiers." …
An appeals court is set to re-hear the case of Phelps v. the City of Manchester which involves the protest of Westboro Baptist Church at soldiers' funerals.
An appeals court accepted the City of Manchester’s petition to re-hear the case Phelps v. the City of Manchester. The Westboro Baptists Church and ACLU sued Manchester over a city ordinance restricting protests or pickets at funerals. The church regularly pickets funerals of dead American soldiers, claiming the death of soldiers is a punishment for America's tolerance of gay rights. In October, a three-judge panel ruled in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church and the ACLU, arguing Manchester’s ordinance violated the church’s first amendment rights. However, in November, the City of Manchester, filed a petition for rehearing “en banc," asking for the entire Eighth District Court of Appeals bench of judges to hear the case rather than the …
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
"Patch" brings you a report on the city’s lawsuits and their costs to taxpayers. Readers can also view the lawsuits involving alleged discrimination, funeral protests and sex offenders.
The Manchester Board of Aldermen holds a meeting twice a month. At each meeting, Manchester resident Pauline Barr asks Manchester City Attorney Patrick Gunn to list the number of lawsuits in which the city is involved. “Mr. Gunn, what are the lawsuits pending for the city,” Barr asks like clockwork. “The same as before,” Gunn responds at most meetings. And even though Barr knows the lawsuits, she asks Gunn to list them for her at each meeting. Barr tells Town and Country-Manchester Patch she believes it is important to know the the city’s legal affairs. “It is our taxpayer money and it’s being wasted,” Barr said. “We have a lawyer that we pay very well, but because he doesn’t have the expertise, they say, we hire an outside firm.” Patch …
John Messmer
12:06 pm on Thursday, January 12, 2012
But Mr. Dennis, you write that "free speech doesn't mean you can infringe on others exercising their rights.....". But what "rights" are Westboro infringing upon? The right to attend a funeral in peace? The right not to have your feelings hurt? Great ideas but those aren't fundamental rights - and they're certainly not rights protected in the Constitution. I abhor what this church is doing as … more ›