Phelps-Roper v. Koster

3 F. Supp. 3d 764, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30450, 2014 WL 916634
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedMarch 10, 2014
DocketNo. 06-4156-CV-C-FJG
StatusPublished

This text of 3 F. Supp. 3d 764 (Phelps-Roper v. Koster) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Phelps-Roper v. Koster, 3 F. Supp. 3d 764, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30450, 2014 WL 916634 (W.D. Mo. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER

FERNANDO J. GAITAN, JR., District Judge.

Pending before the Court are (1) Plaintiffs Second Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 304) and (2) State Defendants’ Second Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 307). Also before the Court are the parties’ additional briefs requested by the Court regarding the merits of the claim that R.S.Mo. § 578.502 is vague (Doc. Nos. 315, 316, and 319). All motions and briefs are as to Count XIV, the only count remaining in plaintiffs Second Amended Complaint (Doc. No. 106).

In plaintiffs motion for summary judgment, she advances two claims under Count XIV. The first, hereinafter referred to as the Section 578.502 claim, attacks R.S.Mo. § 578.502 as being unconstitutionally vague because there is no way for Plaintiff or others to know when the stat[766]*766ute’s time restriction (one hour before any funeral) begins. As the Court has previously found (Order, Doc. No. 314), this claim was sufficiently pled in plaintiffs second amended complaint, and the Court will reach the merits of this claim. Plaintiffs other claim, hereinafter referred to as the Section 578.503 claim, attacks R.S.Mo. § 578.503 as being unconstitutionally vague because there is no way for Plaintiff or others to know when the conditions of Section 578.503 have been met, and thus no way to know when Section 578.502 takes effect.

I.Facts

As it currently stands, this case involves two Missouri statutes enacted in 2006: R.S.Mo. §§ 578.502 and 578.503. In their current versions, the statutes read as follows:

578.502. Funeral protests prohibited, when — funeral defined
1. This section shall be known as “Spc. Edward Lee Myers’ Law”.
2. It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in picketing or other protest activities within three hundred feet of or about any location at which a funeral is held, within one hour prior to the commencement of any funeral, and until one hour following the cessation of any funeral. Each day on which a violation occurs shall constitute a separate offense. Violation of this section is a class B misdemeanor, unless committed by a person who has previously pled guilty to or been found guilty of a violation of this section, in which case the violation is a class A misdemeanor.
3. For purposes of this section, “funeral” means the ceremonies, processions, and memorial services held in connection with the burial or cremation of the dead.
R.S.Mo. § 578.502 (emphasis in original). 578.503. Contingent effective date The enactment of section 578.502 shall become effective only on the date the provisions of section 578.501 are finally declared void or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction and upon notification by the attorney general to the revisor of statutes.

R.S.Mo. § 578.503.1

Plaintiff is a member of Westboro Baptist Church (hereinafter “WBC”). Plaintiff and other church members believe that Americans have disregarded the commandments of God by engaging in sin and that God is thus exercising his wrath by killing Americans. In particular, Plaintiff and other members of WBC perceive the homosexual movement as especially dangerous. Plaintiff and other members of the WBC express their religious beliefs by engaging in picketing and protesting. Since approximately 1993, Plaintiff and other members of WBC have picketed and protested near funerals of gay persons, persons who died from AIDS, persons whose lifestyles they believed to be sinful but are touted as heroic upon their death, and persons whose actions while alive had supported homosexuality. Since 2005, plaintiff and other members of the WBC have been picketing near the funerals of American soldiers.

Plaintiff indicates that all of her pickets and protests are peaceful and conducted on public streets and sidewalks. Plaintiff testifies she has no desire to disrupt any funeral proceeding or to interfere with ingress to or egress from any location where [767]*767a funeral is held. She indicates her pickets and protests end when a funeral begins. Plaintiff and other church members have engaged in more than 50,807 pickets, including more than 585 pickets associated with funerals and memorial services.

Plaintiff indicates that, in an attempt to abide by the law, she has contacted local law enforcement officials in advance of planned pickets and protests to determine where and when she may picket without being in violation of Missouri law. Plaintiffs’ responses from various government officials from 2006 through 2008 indicate a wide variety of interpretations of Missouri’s statutes, including assertions that Section 578.502 would be enforced (when, at the time, Section 578.502 was not in effect). See Doc. No. 305, ¶¶ 25.A.-25.E; Exhibits, Doc. No. 305-3 through 305-12.

Plaintiff currently argues that the “one hour prior” provision of Section 578.502 is unconstitutionally vague. However, in her deposition held on November 18, 2009, plaintiff made no mention of the “one hour prior” provision when questioned about her Second Amended Complaint. Doc. No. 207-2, Depo. 144:5-19. Plaintiff indicates she “relies on published schedules to estimate when a funeral or memorial service might begin.” Doc. No. 305, ¶ 21. In her deposition, when questioned about how she learns when a funeral is to begin, she testified, “Well, it’s always published. That’s the only way we can learn it.” Doc. No. 207-2, Depo. 143:17-20. In plaintiffs affidavit in support of her motion for summary judgment (Doc. No. 305-2, which was signed July 12, 2013, over three years after close of discovery in this case), plaintiff indicates she “is not notified in advance by any official source when a funeral or memorial service will actually start,” (id. at ¶ 11), in her “experience, published starting times for funerals or memorial services are frequently incorrect or changed after publication,” (id. at ¶ 13), and because of their inability to “determine, in advance of the start of a funeral or memorial service, when the period ‘one hour prior to the commencement of any funeral’ will begin,” plaintiff and other Westboro members have “refrained from engaging in any pickets before funeral or memorial services at any public place possibly restricted by § 578.502.” Id. at ¶ 14.

On January 24, 2009, this Court entered a preliminary injunction prohibiting defendants from enforcing R.S.Mo. § 578.501. (Doc. No. 74; see also Doc. No. 75, amended order). On August 16, 2010, 734 F.Supp.2d 870 (W.D.Mo.2010), this Court entered an Order finding R.S.Mo. Sections 578.501 and 578.502 unconstitutional under the Free Speech Clause of the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. Order, Doc. No. 282.

On April 26, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed this Court’s judgment in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings. See Phelps-Roper v. Koster, 713 F.3d 942 (8th Cir.2013). In particular, the Eighth Circuit found Section 578.501 to be unconstitutional under the Free Speech Clause as such statute was not narrowly-tailored. Id. at 951-53. The Eighth Circuit further found the floating buffer zones established by both Sections 578.501 and 578.502 to cover “processions” to restrict substantially more speech than necessary. Id. at 952-53.

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Bluebook (online)
3 F. Supp. 3d 764, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30450, 2014 WL 916634, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/phelps-roper-v-koster-mowd-2014.