From Slate (9/3/10):
Federal Judge Overturns Ban on Flag Mutilation
U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf overturned Nebraska's ban on flag mutilation Thursday. It is unclear whether his ruling, that the law can't be applied as long as the person in question is otherwise acting peacefully, would affect only the individual who filed the lawsuit and her fellow church members or everyone in the state. "Thursday's ruling is a victory for activists from a Kansas church who trample on the U.S. flag when they protest at military funerals," the Associated Press reported. Megan Phelps-Roper, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., filed the lawsuit in July on the grounds that the ban violated her right to free speech. Westboro Baptist members often protest at soldiers' funerals across the United States because they believe troop deaths are a punishment for the country's tolerance of homosexuality. Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning has previously said that his state's ban on flag mutilation is not consistent with U.S. Supreme Court rulings that declared desecration of the flag a form of protected speech and that he wouldn't fight to save it. Should Bruning refuse to appeal, Thursday's ruling would stand.
Read original story in The Associated Press | Friday, Sept. 3, 2010
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