Reid wants Supreme Court to protect military funerals

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will announce Friday he is taking the unusual step of filing an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in an attempt to ban protests at military funerals.

Reid is sending a brief to support the family of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq in 2006 and whose funeral in Topeka, Kan., was disrupted by protesters. The Snyder family won a lower court decision, but it was overturned on appeal.

Reid's brief argues, in part, that private funerals have traditionally received special protection under state and federal laws and that privacy rights trump the First Amendment right that guarantees free speech.

Reid circulated a letter throughout the Senate this week to announce his intentions and inviting others to join the effort.

By late Thursday afternoon, there were 42 total signers: Reid, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Bob Bennett (R-Utah), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Roland Burris (D-Ill.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), George LeMieux (R-Fla.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), David Vitter (R-La.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).