In light of the recent events of the Westboro Baptist supremacist group wanting to protest the funeral of Fred and Terresa Teutenberg and their five children, we would like to propose this act in their honor and the honor of all of our fallen soldiers and the families that they left behind.
In accordance with the First Amendment which instate: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
The Supreme Court requires the government to provide substantial justification for the interference with the right of free speech where it attempts to regulate the content of the speech. A less stringent test is applied for content-neutral legislation.
The Supreme Court has also recognized that the government may prohibit some speech that may cause a breach of the peace or cause violence. For more on unprotected and less protected categories of speech see advocacy of illegal action, fighting words, commercial speech and obscenity. The right to free speech includes other mediums of expression that communicate a message. The level of protection speech receives also depends on the forum in which it takes place.
The right to petition the government for a redress of grievances guarantees people the right to ask the government to provide relief for a wrong through the courts (litigation) or other governmental action. It works with the right of assembly by allowing people to join together and seek change from the government. By this group protesting funerals which are considered highly emotional, we can prove through valid Psychological research on bereavement and grieving individuals that the act of protest at funerals of any individual both military or not may cause a breach of the peace or cause violence. We feel that this entitle us the allotment to create this law with out it interfering with the First Amendment rights of the American people.
We ask that you please sign and help up get this petition passed to create this Bill to take to congress. However the "let them rest in Peace Act" in the state of Illinois only refers to military funerals we would like to add an amendment that this law applies to all funerals with in the state of Florida.