On April 18, 2011, Governor Mary Fallin signed into law Senate Bill 406, authored by Senator Josh Brecheen of Coalgate, and Representative Dustin Roberts of Durant. The law adds significant new restrictions on funeral protests.

      Many people are familiar with the picketing activities of Westboro Baptist Church, which occurs near military funerals throughout the United States. The church members display signs saying God hates the United States and other messages many find offensive.

     In our columns the past two weeks, we have discussed the United States Supreme Court decision in Snyder v. Phelps, decided March 2011. In that case, the father of a deceased military service member sued Westboro for picketing near his son’s funeral, and the jury awarded him damages. However, the Supreme Court overturned the verdict. Although the Supreme Court acknowledged Westboro’s choice to convey its views at funerals makes those views particularly hurtful, the Court found the content of the speech, even if offensive to many, related to matters of public concern. The Court thus found the First Amendment was a defense to the father’s claims.

     Importantly, the Court noted Westboro’s choice of where and when to picket is not beyond government regulation, but is subject to reasonable time, place, or manner restrictions. To the extent laws governing picketing at funerals are content neutral, the Court said, they raise different questions from those in Snyder. However, Maryland, where the funeral in Snyder took place, did not have such a law at that time.

      We noted last week that the Snyder decision would have been the same under Oklahoma’s law, since Westboror picketed approximately 1000 feet from the funeral. Oklahoma’s law prohibited picketing within 500 feet of a funeral.

     The new law prohibits any protest within two hours before or after a funeral, and bans all protests within 1,000 feet of a funeral.  

Note:  Read the Snyder decision here.

“Protesting a funeral for political purposes is an abhorrent and disgusting practice,” Fallin said. “While such distasteful protests have been ruled constitutionally protected and cannot be legally prohibited, this legislation will help protect grieving families from people who are looking to exploit their suffering.”