States Pile On Against Westboro

Almost all of the states have signed onto an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, asking that military funerals be protected from the likes of the Phelps clan.

Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia have submitted a brief to the Supreme Court in support of a father who sued anti-gay protesters over their demonstration at the 2006 funeral of his son, a Marine killed in Iraq. Only Virginia and Maine declined to sign the brief by the Kansas attorney general. Albert Snyder sued over protests by the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church at his son's funeral in Maryland. The church pickets funerals because they believe war deaths are punishment for U.S. tolerance of homosexuality.

In March a judge ruled that Snyder must pay Westboro's court costs for defending themselves against his suit. Bill O'Reilly then stepped in to pay Snyder's fine personally.