Analysis of a Flag Burning Case
In 1984, Gregory Lee Johnson burned an American flag at a Regan campaign protest. He was subsequently arrested, convicted, and sentenced to prison in the Dallas County Criminal Court. Johnson appealed, lost in the Texas Court of Appeals, Fifth District, but eventually his conviction was overturned by the highest court in the state, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals; upon a final appeal, made by the state, the case made its way to the United States Supreme Court.
Though the burning of an American flag is frowned upon for obvious reasons, it is difficult to fathom a person being arrested and imprisoned for an expressive act typically protected by the First Amendment which is why this case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. The statute in question in this case is 42.09(a)(3) of the Texas Penal Code (1989) which states that “A person commits an offense [of desecration of a venerated object] if he intentionally or knowingly desecrates a state or national flag.” This statute makes it a criminal offense to intentionally disrespect an American flag or any other state or national flags. This statute, like all statutory law, was created by the legislative branch of government. Mr. Johnson eventually won on appeal in the highest court in the state, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Prior to his win, Johnson’s initial appeal was denied by a lower court, the Texas Court of Appeals, Fifth District. The Fifth District court agreed with the lowest court, the Dallas County Criminal Court, which convicted Johnson. The citation for the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision is Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989). The Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson determined that the Texas statute in question was unconstitutional and the statute was subsequently overturned. The Court stated, “If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is