TRO Denied To Funeral Protesters

In St. Louis yesterday, a federal judge refused to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent enforcement of Missouri's law against demonstrating at funerals. The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports on the decision. The law is being challenged by Shirley Phelps-Roper, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church. Her group has gained notoriety for picketing funerals of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, holding signs claiming that soldiers' deaths are punishment by God of the United States for sins such as tolerating homosexuality. U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh said that church members would not be irreparably harmed by not being able to protest at Sunday's funeral of Jeremy R. Shank, who was killed by small arms fire in Balad. Another lawsuit has already been filed challenging Missouri's law. (See prior posting.)