I just watched a documentary recently on Phelps. I didn't realize that the members of his church, who go out and picket military funerals, were all from the same huge family! At issue here is whether the government can prevent the Phelps from exercising freedom of speech by picketing, at any given time, a funeral. In Missouri, for example, they aren't allowed to do it for a period of time before or after the funeral. From Daily Journal Online

A federal appeals court panel said Friday that Missouri should be barred from enforcing a state law limiting protests near funerals until it can be determined if the law is constitutional.

The same three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis reached the same conclusion last December. But the state of Missouri appealed, saying the judges had used the wrong legal standard.

The court on Friday said Westboro Baptist Church member Shirley Phelps-Roper had met the higher standard and was entitled to an injunction barring the state from enforcing the law.

P.S. If you haven't seen that documentary, and don't know who the Phelps are, it's well worth watching.