Omaha, USA - The Westboro Baptist Church wants the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a Maryland lawsuit and a Nebraska criminal case to protect the fundamentalist group's right to protest at military funerals.
The Topeka, Kan.-based church believes the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.
Late last month a federal jury in Baltimore ordered the church to pay nearly $11 million to a grieving father. Members of the church demonstrated at the 2006 funeral of Albert Snyder's son.
And one of the church's leaders, Shirley Phelps-Roper, is facing criminal charges of flag mutilation and negligent child abuse tied to a protest at a Bellevue soldier's funeral in June.
The writ was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court Friday by Margie Phelps, one of the group's attorneys and one of the Rev. Fred Phelps' daughters.
The church argues that the verdict in the Snyder lawsuit violates the First Amendment religious expression rights of Westboro members and that the Nebraska law that prohibits flag desecration is unconstitutional, so both the civil verdict against the church and the criminal case against Phelps-Roper should be thrown out.
The church plans to file more conventional appeals in the lawsuit, and Phelps-Roper will continue fighting the criminal charges in Nebraska. But Phelps-Roper said church officials wanted to give the U.S. Supreme Court a chance to address the compelling constitutional questions these cases raise.
"This is a very interesting, lively discussion that is permeating doomed America," Phelps-Roper said.
The Snyder lawsuit was decided on Oct. 31 when a federal jury ordered Westboro to pay Albert Snyder $10.9 million in damages for protesting at the March 2006 funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.
Albert Snyder said in his lawsuit that the protests intruded on what should have been a private ceremony and sullied his memory of the event.
Nebraska and at least 37 other states have adopted laws restricting how close protesters can get to funerals. The laws were at least partly inspired by Westboro's protests. Congress has passed a law prohibiting such protests at federal cemeteries.
The June 5 funeral in Bellevue was for Nebraska Army National Guard Spc. William "Bill" Bailey, who was killed May 25 when an explosive device struck his vehicle in Iraq.
Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov filed criminal charges against Phelps-Roper because she allowed her 10-year-old son to stand on an American flag during the protest. He has said the charges are justified because violence could have ensued.
That case is still in the preliminary stages and has not gone to trial. Polikov did not immediately respond to a message left this morning.
Nebraska's flag law defines flag mutilation as when a "person intentionally casts contempt or ridicule upon a flag by mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning or trampling upon such flag."