Free Republic

This sort of thing ought to be left to the Westboro Baptist Church. The Washington Free Beacon reports that a Chicago judge has intervened on behalf of SCI Illinois Services, Inc., a national funeral-home chain, and ordered the local Teamsters chapter to suspend picketing at 16 funeral homes in the area. What prompted the legal action? The company testified in its filing that union members blocked grieving family members from leaving its parking lot, used bullhorns to shout obscenities at workers and mourners, and unleashed a German Shepard on a dead woman’s daughter and husband. The funeral home was eventually...

I own an office building which we have been remodeling for some time now. I recently hired a concrete contractor to replace our front entry walk. This contractor has been fighting from becoming unionized for over a decade now. I was told to be expected to be picketed if we gave him the job. His price was right, his reputation excellent and to me his anti-union stance is a real badge of honor for America. So, he got the job. True to the rumor, we had some picketers show up each day. Generally just two sometimes up to four. The...

Today's Phelps-Roper v. Strickland upholds a ban on "'picketing' or 'other protest activities,' within 300 feet of the funeral or burial service, from one hour before until one hour after the funeral or burial service." ("Other protest activities" is defined as "any action that is disruptive or undertaken to disrupt or disturb a funeral or burial service or a funeral procession.") The court concludes that the ban is content-neutral, serves the important government interest in "protect[ing] the citizens of Ohio from disruption during the events associated with a funeral or burial service," including disruption in the sense of "unwanted communication...

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One of the first state laws to limit Fred Phelps-style funeral protests has sparked a federal lawsuit charging that it infringes on First Amendment rights. The lawsuit, filed Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union, says Kentucky's limits on funeral demonstrations are unconstitutional and should be struck down. The Kentucky law says protesters within 300 feet of funeral services would be guilty of first-degree disorderly conduct, punishable by up to a year in jail. It also prevents protesters from using bullhorns to try to disrupt services and bans any images that could be seen by people at the service. The...