I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1591 

To guarantee that military funerals are conducted with dignity and respect. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 15, 2011 

Mr. BASS of New Hampshire (for himself and Mr. MATHESON) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and 

in addition to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs and Armed Services, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

A BILL 

To guarantee that military funerals are conducted with 

dignity and respect. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sanctity of Eternal 

5 Rest for Veterans Act of 2011’’ or the ‘‘SERVE Act of 

6 2011’’. 

7 SEC. 2. PURPOSE AND AUTHORITY. 

8 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide 

9 necessary and proper support for the recruitment and reVerDate Mar 15 2010 19:30 Apr 20, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1591.IH H1591

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1 tention of the Armed Forces and militia employed in the 

2 service of the United States by protecting the dignity of 

3 the service of the members of such Forces and militia, and 

4 by protecting the privacy of their immediate family mem5 bers and other attendees during funeral services for such 

6 members. 

7 (b) CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY.—Congress finds 

8 that this Act is a necessary and proper exercise of its pow9 ers under the Constitution, article I, section 8, paragraphs 

10 1, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 18, to provide for the common de11 fense, raise and support armies, provide and maintain a 

12 navy, make rules for the government and regulation of the 

13 land and naval forces, and provide for organizing and gov14 erning such part of the militia as may be employed in the 

15 service of the United States. 

16 SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO TITLE 18. 

17 Section 1388 of title 18, United States Code is 

18 amended to read as follows: 

19 ‘‘§ 1388. Prohibition on disruptions of funerals of 

20 members or former members of the 

21 armed forces 

22 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—For any funeral of a member or 

23 former member of the Armed Forces that is not located 

24 at a cemetery under the control of the National Cemetery 

25 Administration or part of Arlington National Cemetery, 


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1 it shall be unlawful for any person to engage in an activity 

2 during the period beginning 120 minutes before and end3 ing 120 minutes after such funeral, any part of which ac4 tivity— 

5 ‘‘(1)(A) takes place within the boundaries of the 

6 location of such funeral or takes place within 300 

7 feet of the point of the intersection between— 

8 ‘‘(i) the boundary of the location of such 

9 funeral; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) a road, pathway, or other route of in11 gress to or egress from the location of such fu12 neral; and 

13 ‘‘(B) includes any individual willfully making or 

14 assisting in the making of any noise or diversion 

15 that is not part of such funeral and that disturbs or 

16 tends to disturb the peace or good order of such fu17 neral; 

18 ‘‘(2)(A) is within 500 feet of the boundary of 

19 the location of such funeral; and 

20 ‘‘(B) includes any individual willfully and with21 out proper authorization impeding or tending to im22 pede the access to or egress from such location or 

23 disrupting or tending to disrupt a funeral proces24 sion; or 


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1 ‘‘(3) is within 500 feet of the boundary of the 

2 residence, home or domicile of any surviving member 

3 of the deceased person’s immediate family and in4 cludes any individual willfully making or assisting in 

5 the making of any noise or diversion that disturbs 

6 or tends to disturb the peace of the persons located 

7 at such location. 

8 ‘‘(b) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 

9 (a) shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more 

10 than 2 years, or both. 

11 ‘‘(c) CIVIL REMEDIES.— 

12 ‘‘(1) DISTRICT COURTS.—The district courts of 

13 the United States shall have jurisdiction— 

14 ‘‘(A) to prevent and restrain violations of 

15 this section; and 

16 ‘‘(B) for the adjudication of any claims for 

17 relief under this section. 

18 ‘‘(2) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The Attorney Gen19 eral may institute proceedings under this section. 

20 ‘‘(3) CLAIMS.—Any person, including a sur21 viving member of the deceased person’s immediate 

22 family, who suffers injury as a result of conduct that 

23 violates this section may— 


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1 ‘‘(A) sue therefor in any appropriate 

2 United States district court or in any court of 

3 competent jurisdiction; and 

4 ‘‘(B) recover damages as provided in sub5 section (d) and the cost of the suit, including 

6 reasonable attorneys’ fees. 

7 ‘‘(4) ESTOPPEL.—A final judgment or decree 

8 rendered in favor of the United States in any crimi9 nal proceeding brought by the United States under 

10 this section shall estop the defendant from denying 

11 the essential allegations of the criminal offense in 

12 any subsequent civil proceeding brought by a person 

13 or by the United States. 

14 ‘‘(d) ACTUAL AND STATUTORY DAMAGES.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any penalty 

16 imposed under subsection (b), a violator of this sec17 tion is liable in an action under subsection (c) for 

18 actual or statutory damages as provided in this sub19 section. 

20 ‘‘(2) ACTIONS BY PRIVATE PERSONS.—A person 

21 bringing an action under subsection (c)(3) may elect, 

22 at any time before final judgment is rendered, to re23 cover the actual damages suffered by him or her as 

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1 ages, an award of statutory damages for each viola2 tion involved in the action. 

3 ‘‘(3) ACTIONS BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The 

4 Attorney General under subsection (c)(2) is entitled 

5 to recover an award of statutory damages for each 

6 violation involved in the action notwithstanding any 

7 recovery under subsection (c)(3). 

8 ‘‘(4) STATUTORY DAMAGES.—A court may 

9 award, as the court considers just, statutory dam10 ages in a sum of not less than $25,000 or more than 

11 $50,000 per violation. 

12 ‘‘(e) REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION.—It shall be a re13 buttable presumption that the violation was committed 

14 willfully for purposes of determining relief under this sec15 tion if the violator, or a person acting in concert with the 

16 violator, did not have reasonable grounds to believe, either 

17 from the attention or publicity sought by the violator or 

18 other circumstance, that the conduct of such violator or 

19 person would not disturb or tend to disturb the peace or 

20 good order of such funeral, impede or tend to impede the 

21 access to or egress from such funeral, disrupt or tend to 

22 disrupt to a funeral procession, or disturb or tend to dis23 turb the peace of any surviving member of the deceased 

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1 dence, home or domicile of the deceased person’s imme2 diate family on the date of the service or ceremony. 

3 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

4 ‘‘(1) the term ‘Armed Forces’ has the meaning 

5 given the term in section 101 of title 10 and in6 cludes members and former members of the Na7 tional Guard who were employed in the service of 

8 the United States; and 

9 ‘‘(2) the term ‘immediate family’ shall have the 

10 same meaning given such term in section 115 of this 

11 title.’’. 

12 SEC. 4. AMENDMENT TO TITLE 38. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2413 of title 38, United 

14 States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

15 ‘‘§ 2413. Prohibition on certain demonstrations and 

16 disruptions at cemeteries under control 

17 of the National Cemetery Administration 

18 and at Arlington National Cemetery 

19 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful for any per20 son— 

21 ‘‘(1) to carry out a demonstration on the prop22 erty of a cemetery under the control of the National 

23 Cemetery Administration or on the property of Ar24 lington National Cemetery unless the demonstration 

25 has been approved by the cemetery superintendent 


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1 or the director of the property on which the ceme2 tery is located; or 

3 ‘‘(2) with respect to such a cemetery, to engage 

4 in an activity during the period beginning 120 min5 utes before and ending 120 minutes after a funeral, 

6 memorial service, or ceremony is held, any part of 

7 which activity— 

8 ‘‘(A)(i) takes place within the boundaries 

9 of such cemetery or takes place within 300 feet 

10 of the point of the intersection between— 

11 ‘‘(I) the boundary of such cemetery; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(II) a road, pathway, or other route 

14 of ingress to or egress from such cemetery; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(ii) includes any individual willfully mak17 ing or assisting in the making of any noise or 

18 diversion that is not part of such funeral, me19 morial service, or ceremony and that disturbs or 

20 tends to disturb the peace or good order of such 

21 funeral, memorial service, or ceremony; or 

22 ‘‘(B)(i) is within 500 feet of the boundary 

23 of such cemetery; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) includes any individual willfully and 

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1 ing to impede the access to or egress from such 

2 cemetery or disrupting or tending to disrupt a 

3 funeral procession. 

4 ‘‘(b) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 

5 (a) shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more 

6 than 2 years, or both. 

7 ‘‘(c) CIVIL REMEDIES.—(1) The district courts of the 

8 United States shall have jurisdiction— 

9 ‘‘(A) to prevent and restrain violations of this 

10 section; and 

11 ‘‘(B) for the adjudication of any claims for re12 lief under this section. 

13 ‘‘(2) The Attorney General of the United States may 

14 institute proceedings under this section. 

15 ‘‘(3) Any person, including a surviving member of the 

16 deceased person’s immediate family, who suffers injury as 

17 a result of conduct that violates this section may— 

18 ‘‘(A) sue therefor in any appropriate United 

19 States district court or in any court of competent ju20 risdiction; and 

21 ‘‘(B) recover damages as provided in subsection 

22 (d) and the cost of the suit, including reasonable at23 torneys’ fees. 

24 ‘‘(4) A final judgment or decree rendered in favor of 

25 the United States in any criminal proceeding brought by 


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1 the United States under this section shall estop the de2 fendant from denying the essential allegations of the 

3 criminal offense in any subsequent civil proceeding 

4 brought by a person or by the United States. 

5 ‘‘(d) ACTUAL AND STATUTORY DAMAGES.—(1) In 

6 addition to any penalty imposed under subsection (b), a 

7 violator of this section is liable in an action under sub8 section (c) for actual or statutory damages as provided 

9 in this subsection. 

10 ‘‘(2) A person bringing an action under subsection 

11 (c)(3) may elect, at any time before final judgment is ren12 dered, to recover the actual damages suffered by him or 

13 her as a result of the violation or, instead of actual dam14 ages, an award of statutory damages for each violation 

15 involved in the action. 

16 ‘‘(3) The Attorney General under subsection (c)(2) 

17 is entitled to recover an award of statutory damages for 

18 each violation involved in the action notwithstanding any 

19 recovery under subsection (c)(3). 

20 ‘‘(4) A court may award, as the court considers just, 

21 statutory damages in a sum of not less than $25,000 or 

22 more than $50,000 per violation. 

23 ‘‘(e) REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION.—It shall be a re24 buttable presumption that the violation of subsection 

25 (a)(2) was committed willfully for purposes of determining 


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1 relief under this section if the violator, or a person acting 

2 in concert with the violator, did not have reasonable 

3 grounds to believe, either from the attention or publicity 

4 sought by the violator or other circumstance, that the con5 duct of such violator or person would not— 

6 ‘‘(1) disturb or tend to disturb the peace or 

7 good order of such funeral, memorial service, or 

8 ceremony; or 

9 ‘‘(2) impede or tend to impede the access to or 

10 egress from such funeral, memorial service, or cere11 mony; or 

12 ‘‘(3) disrupt or tend to disrupt a funeral proces13 sion. 

14 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

15 ‘‘(1) the term ‘demonstration’ includes— 

16 ‘‘(A) any picketing or similar conduct; 

17 ‘‘(B) any oration, speech, use of sound am18 plification equipment or device, or similar con19 duct that is not part of a funeral, memorial 

20 service, or ceremony; 

21 ‘‘(C) the display of any placard, banner, 

22 flag, or similar device, unless such a display is 

23 part of a funeral, memorial service, or cere24 mony; and 


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1 ‘‘(D) the distribution of any handbill, pam2 phlet, leaflet, or other written or printed matter 

3 other than a program distributed as part of a 

4 funeral, memorial service, or ceremony; and 

5 ‘‘(2) the term ‘immediate family’ shall have the 

6 same meaning given such term in section 115 of title 

7 18.’’. 

8 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

9 at the beginning of chapter 24 of such title is amended 

10 by striking the item relating to section 2413 and inserting 

11 the following new item: 

‘‘2413. Prohibition on certain demonstrations and disruptions at cemeteries 

under control of the National Cemetery Administration and at 

Arlington National Cemetery.’’. 

Æ 


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