The $5 million verdict against the Westboro Baptist Church, the fundamentalist sect from Kansas that has attracted national media attention for picketing at military funerals, has been reversed. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond overturned a Baltimore jury's award to Albert Snyder for the emotional distress he suffered when members of the Phelps family picketed his Marine son's funeral in 2006. "We are constrained to agree that these signs are entitled to First Amendment protection," Judge Robert B. King wrote for the federal appeals court.

Tagged with: funeral protest Shirley Phelps-Roper St. Joseph Westboro Baptist Church

The city of St. Joseph won’t go forward with a lawsuit aimed at stopping enforcement of a property tax law watched by cities across the state. In 2008, the legislature passed a bill stating that property tax levies couldn’t go ...

Tagged with: Hancock Amendment property tax St. Joseph Vince Capell

The city of St. Joseph filed a lawsuit in Cole County Court last week to prevent the enforcement of a law the municipality says will drain roughly $300,000 out of general revenues. At issue is a provision in a wide-ranging ...

Tagged with: property tax St. Joseph

Shirley Phelps-Roper, the daughter of the founder of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., sued the city of St. Joseph last week over a city ordinance barring protests around funerals and funeral processions. Phelps-Roper and members of her church believe ...

Tagged with: 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals funeral protest Shirley Phelps-Roper St. Joseph U.S. District Court Westboro Baptist Church