(RNS) The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit to overturn a Michigan law that makes it a felony to “disturb, disrupt or adversely affect” a funeral procession or ceremony.

The suit was filed Wednesday (April 2) on behalf of Lewis Lowden after he and his late wife, Jean, were pulled over and arrested during a funeral procession for Army Cpl. Todd Motley who was killed in Iraq in 2007.

The couple’s van carried signs that were critical of U.S. policy and then-President Bush.

“I can never express the shame and humiliation that Jean and I felt when we were forced out of the funeral procession and arrested. In the end, this lawsuit may bring us justice; however, it will never give us back the moment our beloved friend Todd was buried,” said Lewis Lowden. “I only wish Jean lived to see the day we filed this lawsuit.”

The lawsuit was filed against a Michigan county and the two sheriff’s deputies who arrested the couple. The anti-protest law was originally approved in 2006 to help combat an anti-gay church group led by the Rev. Fred Phelps of Topeka, Kan., that travels around the country protesting outside military funerals.

Motley’s family had invited the couple to drive in the funeral procession, but two miles into the drive, the Lowdens were pulled over and their van was impounded. They missed the burial and were detained for about 24 hours, according to the ACLU.

“Although the Legislature may have had honorable motives in passing the law, this case is a textbook example of what happens when the state gives police officers unchecked power to arrest people who express unpopular views,” Michael Steinberg, legal director for the ACLU of Michigan, told the Associated Press.

The Lowdens were personal friends of Motley, who died from a roadside bomb, according to the AP. Jean Lowden taught Motley in high school, and Lewis Lowden took him fishing and camping.