I think because of the people willing to protect the families, that the police got involved, and the Phelps folks were shouted down in some towns (with people waving flags, and keeping the Phelps folks out of view...
The Phelps gang (friends of Al Gore) is a different issue to me: it violates Freedom of Religion -- the right to have a solemn funeral for a dearly departed one...
But that is my viewpoint...
I think the IRS are after the Phelps gang because it is all family members, and they claim it is a church... (And maybe the IRS should be after them...)
But towns have tried to put ordinances in place to prevent the Phelps gang from protesting only to have those ordinances overruled by liberal courts...
Okay, but do you believe the Phelps people should be permitted to stand on the sidewalk outside the home of a dead US service member and ask the family questions about what their son/husband/father died for?