WE Blog

It seemed like a good idea at the time — pretesting the constitutionality of the state’s new funeral picketing law, to avoid the risk of losing in court later and having to pay the Phelpses’ legal fees. But the Kansas Supreme Court struck down the law Tuesday, ruling that the lawsuit-trigger provision violated the separation of powers and noting that its job is not to offer opinions about laws that have yet to go into effect. That makes sense, as it raises the question of whether the same fate awaits the pretest of the constitutionality of the gambling expansion. In any case, it’s encouraging that both lawmakers and Attorney General Stephen Six are eager to fix the funeral-picketing law to get it into effect, so that the state is on record prohibiting protests within 150 feet of a funeral one hour before, during and two hours after a service. Meeting with The Eagle editorial board Tuesday, Six called the law a “worthy goal and something I support.”