300 ft from the entrance to the cemetary
Okay, that may make a difference if the funeral is being held in a National Cemetery, if its considered private property. I don't know.
But similar laws have been passed for funeral protests in public funerals, which are open to the public. Public funeral spaces are open to the public. Its still buffering free speech and regulating where someone can and when they can protest on public ground. Further, they are telling people when they can protest (60 minutes before or after the funeral).
Either way, free speech is being regulated because of hurt feelings. I thought free speech didn't work that way.
The ACLU tried to counteract the legislation:
"The Safe Haven for Heroes Act of 2011" (H.R. 961) and "The Sanctity of Eternal Rest for Veterans" (SERVE) Act (S. 815) seek to protect the right of families to mourn in private. Unfortunately, both H.R. 961 and S. 815 seek to achieve that admirable goal by restricting the rights of protestors through the expansion of existing limitations on the time and place of protests in the vicinity of the funerals of fallen servicemembers.Clearly, the ACLU intervened because what the government is doing is unconstitutional (telling people where and when they can protest).
But, hey, I may be completely wrong on the matter, but I assume the ACLU would not have stepped in, if they didn't think it was unconstitutional.
"It is the unpopular minority speech that is often the most vulnerable to censorship. Increasing the distance of protests from 300 feet to half a mile will not assuage the sense of loss felt by grieving families, but will do an injustice to the memory of the deceased servicemembers by limiting the civil liberties they enlisted to support and died defending. The First Amendment should not be limited to hinder WBC, but should be the rallying point for even more free speech in repudiation of WBC's hateful messages. The ACLU has profound sympathy for fallen servicemembers and their families, but does not approve of Congress using them as a means to limit free speech under the First Amendment." ACLU