CARSON CITY — On Wednesday, state Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto joined an amici curiae brief issued by the attorney general of Kansas and joined by 47 states and the District of Columbia to protect the privacy and emotional health of grieving families of returning war dead.

The issue concerns the right of a group to picket and protest at military funerals. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit had ruled against the privacy of the family and in favor of the protest group, part of a Kansas-based church that protests at military funerals to express its belief that god is punishing the nation for tolerance of homosexuality.

The brief before the U.S. Supreme Court raises the question: May the states protect the privacy and emotional health of grieving families from the psychological terrorism of persons who target such families with hostile picketing at funerals and internet postings that include personal attacks on the families and their deceased children?

“Honoring our war dead is a tradition that stretches for generations and across cultures and national borders,” Masto said. “Those who are willing to sacrifice their lives to protect our freedoms deserve our admiration and respect and their grieving families should be spared the added emotional trauma of a political protest at their loved one’s military funeral.”