Fight To Stop Funeral Protesters Goes On

As the Supreme Court prepares to consider whether groups have the constitutional right to protest at military funerals, military service organizations and lawmakers alike are rallying behind the father of the fallen Marine – Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder – whose name sits atop the test case. After a U.S. circuit court of appeals decided that the First Amendment protected the right of a Kansas church and its pastor, Fred W. Phelps Sr., to protest at Snyder’s funeral, the Marine’s father appealed to the high court. Since then, the Fleet Reserve Association and other organizations signed on to a “friend of the court” brief filed before the high court, which urges the justices to uphold the constitutionality of an existing law that bars protests such as Phelps’. The Fleet Reserve Association also urged its members to support a proposed congressional resolution, H. Con. Res 261, which asks the Supreme Court to allow family and friends of fallen service members to mourn “in peace and privacy.” Phelps’ group has launched numerous protests at military funerals, during which they carried signs saying “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.” The church believes that military casualties are divine punishment for tolerance of homosexuality.