U.S. District Judge Karen K. Campbell ruled in McQueary v. Stumbo, 2006 WL 2792291 (Sept. 26, 2006), a suit brought by the ACLU of Kentucky, that a recently enacted law intended to insulate funerals from political protests violates the First Amendment on grounds of overbreadth. Judge Campbell granted a preliminary injunction, ordering the state not to enforce the law pending further proceedings.

I previously posted about protests held at funerals by the Westboro Baptist Church and Rev. Fred Phelps here, here and here. This statute was created in response to the actions of Phelps and Westboro.

Analyzing the claim that the statute would chill constitutionally protected speech, Judge Campbell first found that the statute was content-neutral, because it banned all demonstrations regardless of their purpose, and that there was a legitimate state interest in “protecting funeral attendees from unwanted communications that are so obtrusive that they are impractical to avoid.”

However, Judge Campbell also stated that “the statute is not narrowly tailored to the extent required to survive judicial review, because it established a physical zone much larger than necessary to protect funeral attendants from being bothered by obtrusive demonstrators, and because it would extend to all demonstrations, even those that would not be regarded as unwanted or disruptive by funeral attendants.”

You can find this news under “Federal Civil Litigation Notes” in the November edition of Lesbian/Gay Law Notes.

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.