(a) Prohibition.—It shall be unlawful for any person—
(1)
to carry out a demonstration on the property of a cemetery under the control of the National Cemetery Administration or on the property of Arlington National Cemetery unless the demonstration has been approved by the cemetery superintendent or the director of the property on which the cemetery is located; or
(2) with respect to such a cemetery, to engage in a demonstration during the period beginning 120 minutes before and ending 120 minutes after a funeral, memorial service, or ceremony is held, any part of which demonstration—
(A)
(i) takes place within the boundaries of such cemetery or takes place within 300 feet of the point of the intersection between—
(b) Penalty.—
Any person who violates subsection (a) shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.
(c) Civil Remedies.—
(3) Any person, including a surviving member of the deceased person’s immediate family, who suffers injury as a result of conduct that violates this section may—
(4)
A final judgment or decree rendered in favor of the United States in any criminal proceeding brought by the United States under this section shall estop the defendant from denying the essential allegations of the criminal offense in any subsequent civil proceeding brought by a person or by the United States.
(d) Actual and Statutory Damages.—
(1)
In addition to any penalty imposed under subsection (b), a violator of this section is liable in an action under subsection (c) for actual or statutory damages as provided in this subsection.
(2)
A person bringing an action under subsection (c)(3) may elect, at any time before final judgment is rendered, to recover the actual damages suffered by him or her as a result of the violation or, instead of actual damages, an award of statutory damages for each violation involved in the action.
(e) Rebuttable Presumption.—It shall be a rebuttable presumption that the violation of subsection (a) was committed willfully for purposes of determining relief under this section if the violator, or a person acting in concert with the violator, did not have reasonable grounds to believe, either from the attention or publicity sought by the violator or other circumstance, that the conduct of such violator or person would not—
(f) Definitions.—In this section—
(1) the term “demonstration” includes—
(B)
any oration, speech, use of sound amplification equipment or device, or similar conduct that is not part of a funeral, memorial service, or ceremony;
(2)
the term “immediate family” means, with respect to a person, the immediate family members of such person, as such term is defined in section 115 of title 18.
(Added Pub. L. 109–228, § 2(a)(1), May 29, 2006, 120 Stat. 387; amended Pub. L. 112–154, title VI, § 601(c)(1), Aug. 6, 2012, 126 Stat. 1197.)