Court Preliminarily Enjoins Enforcement of County Funeral Picketing Law

In Phelps-Roper v. County of St. Charles, Missouri, (ED MO, Jan. 24, 2011), a Missouri federal district court issued a preliminary injunction against a St. Charles (MO) County Ordinance that prohibits picketing within 300 feet of a funeral. In the lawsuit, filed on behalf of members of the Westboro Baptist Church, the district court concluded that 8th Circuit precedent make it likely that the law would be invalidated as not narrowly tailoered or as facially over broad. Suburban Journals reports on the decision.