Protecting the Living and the Dead: How Missouri Can Enact a Constitutional Funeral-Protest Statute

This Note will analyze the constitutionality of Missouri\u27s funeral-protest statutes under the First Amendment. This Note argues that, with certain changes, Missouri\u27s funeral-protest statutes should pass constitutional muster. In Part II, this Note analyzes the facts and holding of Phelps-Roper v. Koster. Next, in Part III, this Note explores the legal background of the First Amendment, time, place, and manner restrictions, and how other courts have decided cases involving funeral-protest laws. Part IV examines the court\u27s rationale in Phelps-Roper v. Koster. Lastly, Part V explains where the district court erred and how Missouri\u27s funeral-protest statutes can be changed to become constitutional time, place, and manner restrictions. This Note concludes with a challenge to the Missouri legislature to draft and enact a constitutional funeral-protest statute and a hope that discussion by the Supreme Court of the United States will allow Missouri to do so