8th Circuit Enjoins Nebraska Funeral Picketing Law

In Phelps-Roper v. Troutman, (8th Cir., Oct. 20, 2011), a 3-judge panel of the 8th Circuit held that the district court should have granted a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the Nebraska Funeral Picketing Law against members of the Westboro Baptist Church-- a group that pickets military funerals, among other places, protesting tolerance of homosexuality in the United States.  The court was bound by a 2008 decision by the 8th Circuit which enjoined enforcement of a similar statute on free speech grounds. However in separate opinions the judges questioned the correctness of that 2008 precedent. The Columbia Daily Tribune reports on the decision.