Assemblyman Lynn Stewart shook his head when he heard that Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church planned to picket court security officer Stanley Coopers memorial service Monday in Henderson.
Stewart, a Henderson Republican, had sponsored legislation last year aimed at preventing or at least discouraging such protests. That measure would have banned protests at any funeral or memorial service in the state from one hour before the service until one hour after it ended. The bill called for classifying such protests as misdemeanors.
Stewart said his intent was to ensure that Nevadas fallen soldiers and heroes have the sacred and solemn burial they deserve.
We are not seeking to stifle anyone from speaking his mind. We simply want to underscore that there is a proper time and place for political protest, Stewart said in February.
Allen Lichtenstein, attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, lodged a written complaint against a portion of the legislation that would have banned protests within 300 feet of a ceremony, arguing that could criminalize a silent protester standing on the sidewalk near a public Memorial Day
parade. The ACLU was otherwise neutral on the bill.
The Assembly Judiciary Committee passed the bill in April, but it sputtered in the full Assembly and was not considered by the state Senate.
Stewart said Monday that he didnt know exactly why his bill withered. Many bills fall by the wayside during the hectic last days of a legislative session, he said.
But, he added, at least his bill passed through the Judiciary Committee. Similar legislation he introduced in 2007 didnt even get that far.
Stewart said if he is re-elected this year, the bill will be at the top of the list of legislation he plans to introduce in 2011.
As for the picketing of the memorial service for Cooper, who was fatally shot while on duty at the federal courthouse, Stewart said: The type of free speech practiced by these protesters interferes with the rights of others.
The Westboro Baptist Church stirred the ire of federal officials with its protests at the funerals of U.S. military personnel. The church says the deaths are Gods punishment of the U.S. for its tolerance of gays and lesbians. The reaction to those protests resulted in a national law, which served as the basis for Stewarts effort in Nevada.
On Memorial Day 2006, President George W. Bush signed the Respect for Americas Fallen Heroes Act, which bans demonstrations at military funerals conducted at national cemeteries.
Under the law, no protest can be held within 300 feet from the entrance to the cemetery or within 150 feet from a road that leads into the cemetery.
This ban applies from one hour before the funeral until one hour after it has ended.
It has a lot more teeth than the Nevada law would have had. Anyone who violates the federal law can be punished by up to one year in jail and $100,000 in fines.
The National Cemetery Administration, part of the Veterans Affairs Department, maintains 130 national cemeteries in 39 states but none in Nevada.
Because the law applies only to national cemeteries, many states have since passed similar laws covering nonfederal cemeteries.
Some of those are starting to see court challenges. The ACLU has strongly opposed the federal law, calling it an unconstitutional restriction on free expression.
Steve Kanigher can be reached at 259-4075 or at steve.kanigher@lasvegassun.com.
Copyright 2010 Las Vegas Sun
