Westboro members allowed to protest GI funeral - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Westboro members allowed to protest GI funeral

OMAHA, Neb. — A federal judge Thursday expanded a temporary block on enforcing Nebraska’s ban on flag mutilation, clearing the way for a weekend protest outside an Omaha soldier’s funeral.

U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf in Lincoln extended an injunction issued last week at the behest of Megan Phelps-Roper, who wanted permission to picket near Omaha’s Temple Israel synagogue Thursday morning and near an Omaha soldier’s funeral Saturday morning. The order makes only Phelps-Roper exempt from the law during those protests.

The ruling came as Kopf canceled a scheduled hearing on the request, citing consent from state and local authorities involved in the case.

Phelps-Roper is a member of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., which is known for staging protests outside funerals of service members. She has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Nebraska’s flag law, which bars intentionally “casting contempt or ridicule” upon an American or Nebraska flag by mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning or trampling on it.

Last week, Kopf issued a temporary block against the law to allow Phelps-Roper to hold two protests in Lincoln. The judge plans to meet Monday with attorneys in the case to determine whether to expand the order beyond Phelps-Roper alone to the entire state.

Westboro members travel around the country protesting at service members’ funerals because they believe U.S. troop deaths are punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality. Members often trample on, wear and display the American flag upside-down as part of their protests.

Kopf said last week that while people may not like the fact that Phelps-Roper has a constitutional right to dishonor the American flag, “the First Amendment trumps the citizenry’s preference for patriotism.”

His order Thursday allows Phelps-Roper to join a protest Saturday morning near Dundee Presbyterian Church, where a funeral has been scheduled for Pfc. Edwin “Eddie” Wood. The 18-year-old died of injuries suffered July 5 when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device near Kandahar, Afghanistan, according to military officials.

Phelps-Roper did not protest outside the synagogue as planned Thursday morning, according to her attorney, Margie Phelps. The judge’s order was issued after the time scheduled for the demonstration, so Phelps-Roper attended a protest in Leavenworth, Kan.

Phelps said a motion will be filed soon to have the injunction made permanent.

Last month, a federal judge in Omaha rejected a lawsuit by another Westboro church member who sought to declare both the state’s flag-mutilation law and its funeral protest law unconstitutional.

Nebraska’s funeral protest law prohibits picketing within 300 feet of a funeral or memorial service.