Federal Appeals Court Hears Arguments in Manchester’s Funeral Protests Case
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." …
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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 ›