Funeral protest bill sent to Doyle
Wisconsin lawmakers moved swiftly Thursday to become the first state to ban protests at funerals in an effort aimed at stopping members of a Kansas church who have disrupted military services.
The state Senate voted 33-0 Thursday to criminalize protests that take place within 500 feet of a funeral one hour before or after the service.
In a surprise move hours later, the Assembly added the measure to its calendar and quickly approved the bill 92-3. Gov. Jim Doyle, who in October attended a funeral disrupted by protests led by Westboro Baptist Church, told The Associated Press he would sign the legislation soon.
Doyle's signature would make Wisconsin the first to enact such a law but 14 others are considering similar bills in response to the church's protests at dozens of military funerals across the country, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Wisconsin's law would apply to protests within 500 feet of the entrance of a memorial service or a funeral and punish first-time violators with up to $10,000 fines and nine months in jail. A second offense could bring up to a 3-year jail term.
"It's silly that we would have to legislate common sense and common decency," said Sen. Jeff Plale, D-South Milwaukee. "But these people who come here to protest at funerals: they are not common, they are not sensible and they certainly aren't decent."
Some lawmakers said they were concerned that the bill was unconstitutional.
"I think we probably have crossed over the line of First Amendment protections," said Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, who nonetheless voted for the bill. "I expect that if it's challenged, we'll find it's gone too far."
The Topeka-based church, led by the Rev. Fred Phelps, believes soldiers' deaths are God's vengeance for the United States' tolerance of homosexuality. It often pickets with signs such as: "Thank God for IEDs," referring to roadside bombs that have killed many soldiers in Iraq.
Shirley Phelps-Roper, a lawyer who is a member of the church, said similar bills had passed legislative bodies in three other states but none had been signed into law. She said lawmakers were taking away the constitutional rights that soldiers in Iraq were fighting to protect.
"They say we picket their graves. They have stomped on their graves," she said, vowing to challenge in court any measure signed into law.
Doyle said the protest he witnessed was grotesque behavior "at a moment where you want the family and the community to be able to show their incredibly profound respect."
A former state attorney general, Doyle said he would be comfortable defending the law's constitutionality in court.
"I think people have been very careful here to make sure that what you are doing is protecting against disruption at a very solemn occasion," he said.
Rep. Frank Boyle, D-Superior, called the church members "crazy wackos" but agreed with Phelps-Roper that lawmakers were trouncing on the freedoms that soldiers were fighting for. Today it's the church; tomorrow it could be abortion or environmental protesters, he said.
"Be careful when you wedge away at the constitutional and the personal freedom we have in this country," he said in a thunderous speech on the Assembly floor.
But Sen. Ron Brown, R-Eau Claire, one of the bill's sponsors, said the restrictions had been crafted with input from constitutional experts and are "reasonable considering the privacy of the individuals who are grieving so deeply."
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