The flag is a symbol of nationhood and national unity. Therefore, if the flag is destructed or used with no respect, it'd be as if doing the same to what it symbolizes: the unity and nationhood of the country. And according to the author, that is enough reason to protect it.
According to Texas's attorney, why should the flag be protected? to uphold it as a symbol of unity to prevent other symbols from being adopted to allow it to lose its symbolic effect to preserve it as a symbol of nationhood to protect its effect as a symbol
In Texas v. Johnson (1989), the Supreme Court held that Johnson’s burning of the flag was protected expression under the First Amendment. (AP Photo/David Cantor, used with permission from the Associated Press) Court said flag burning was protected expression. The late 1980s and early 1990s brought a flurry of action on flag desecration.
1. For burning the American flag, Gregory Lee Johnson was a fined a total of $2,000. 1. Texas v. Johnson was heard on March 21st of 1989. 1. Gregory Lee Johnson appealed the arrest and fine sparked by his flag-burning activities by stating that the Dallas police department had violated his 1st Amendment rights. 2.
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In United States v. Eichman (1990), the Court, once again by a 5-4 vote, held that burning the flag was allowable expressive conduct. As in Texas v. Johnson, the majority opinion affirmed that “ [i]f there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”
During the Republican National Convention in Dallas in 1984, Gregory Lee Johnson participated in a political demonstration in front of Dallas City Hall. During the demonstration, he doused an American flag with kerosene and set it on fire.
Burning the American flag as a symbol of protest against U.S. policies continues to be a controversial issue in the United States. Though laws have been enacted making desecration of the American flag a crime, the Supreme Court has overturned such laws and ruled that the First Amendment protected flag burning as symbolic speech.
The first Supreme Court case dealing with flag desecration was Halter v. Nebraska (1907). Affirming that state governments had the authority to ban desecration of the flag, the Court unanimously upheld the conviction of a company that had printed the American flag on a beer bottle. Writing the opinion for the Court, Justice John Marshall Harlan I stated: “To every true American the flag is the symbol of the Nation’s power, the emblem of freedom in its truest, best sense.”
In 1966, after hearing that civil rights leader James Meredith had been shot in Mississippi, Sidney Street took his own flag into the street in New York City and set it on fire. To those passing by he said, “If they can do this to James Meredith, we don’t need a flag.” Street was fined $100, but the fine was promptly suspended.
Washington (1974), the Court reversed the conviction of a college student in a Washington state case who hung a flag upside down with a peace symbol, made of removable tape, attached. The student was prosecuted under an improper use statute. The Court ruled that this symbolic speech was protected against government interference.
Johnson, the majority opinion affirmed that “ [i]f there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”.
The Supreme Court's decision sparked a vigorous but brief political uproar, culminating in President George Bush proposing an antiflag-burning Constitutional amendment, which quietly died. 2. Symbolic expression has long been associated with the U.S. flag under the federal Constitution. 5.
Johnson burned the flag to protest the policies of President Ronald Reagan. He was arrested and charged with violating a Texas statute that prevented the desecration of a venerated object, including the American flag, if such action were likely to incite anger in others. The case of Texas v.
Gregory Lee Johnson appealed the arrest and fine sparked by his flag-burning activities by stating that the Dallas police department had violated his 1st Amendment rights.