Appeals court delivers Westboro protesters a loss
A federal appeals court dealt a rare legal setback to the Westboro Baptist Church on Tuesday, finding that a Missouri town’s funeral picketing ordinance is constitutional.
Ruling in favor of Manchester, Mo., eleven members of 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the city’s ordinance barring protests at funerals met Constitutional muster because it was narrowly written and offered picketers ample opportunities to express their views in other ways.
Patrick R. Gunn, Manchester’s city attorney, said lawyers were pleased “and, maybe, a bit surprised, given the history of this litigation.”
“(Judges) weighed the benefits of the First Amendment and the rights of families who were grieving the loss of family members who were, for the most part, members of the military,” Gunn said.
Members of the Topeka-based church often picket at service members’ funerals, saying that their deaths are an expression of God’s wrath at America for tolerating homosexuality.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/16/3870092/appeals-court-delivers-westboro.html#storylink=cpy
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