Constitutionality of flag burning and my feelings about this symbolic act

On June 14, 1777, the United States flag was born in Philadelphia, PA which was the capitol of the United States. As a symbol of the patriot’s idea of the Nation conceived in Liberty, the flag was a sign of freedom and justice in the United States of America. The American flag was sometimes called Old Glory also.

Between 1897-1932, forty eight state laws were established for banning the desecrating of the United States flag. Immediately following the civil war, the American Flag was being threatened by at least two fronts. The first was by white southerners that wanted the Confederate flag as the American Flag and the second was by businesses that wanted to use the flag for commercial advertising. In response to these threats, forty eight states passed laws

The U. S. Supreme Court’s first ruling on Flag Desecration was in 1907. The statues prohibited the following: marking, defacing, using in commercial advertising, and showing “contempt” by publicly burning, trampling, spitting on, showing lack of respect for the U. S. Flag. In Halter v. Nebraska in 1907, this ruling was upheld by the U. S. Supreme Court as Constitutional.

In 1968, a Federal Government Flag Desecration law was passed by Congress due to the incident in Central Park where a peace activist decided to burn an American Flag to protest against the Vietnam War. The law banned anyone that demonstrated “Contempt” against the American Flag, but in the process of passing this law, they did not address other issues that dealt with the states’ flag desecration laws.

In 1969, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the verbal belittling of the flag is protected by freedom of speech. When a civil rights activist, Sydney Street, burned the flag at a New York City intersection in protest against the shooting of activist James Meredith, Mr. Street was prosecuted under NY’s flag desecration law for “defy(ing)” the American flag. The Supreme Court overturned Mr. Street’s conviction in their ruling that verbal belittling of the flag was protected by the First Amendment.

In another ruling in 1972, the Supreme Court ruled again for freedom of speech against “Contempt” of the America Flag when a Massachusetts teenager was arrested for wearing a flag patch on the seat of his pants. This Supreme Court ruling also showed that laws clearly banning “Contempt” of the flag were unconstitutional and clearly violated the First Amendment’s Freedom of Speech Protection.

In 1974, in a case of Spence v. Washington, the Supreme Court ruled affixing peace sign stickers to a flag is a form of speech protected by the First Amendment’s Freedom of Speech. In the 1970's and early 1980's, the laws were revisited in most states to meet the standards set in the Street, Smith and Spence cases.

In 1984, to protest presidential policies, Gregory Lee Johnson decided to burn the U.S. flag outside the Republication national convention in Dallas. His arrest led to a 5-4 ruling in the case of Texas v. Johnson. In the ruling, the Supreme Court struck down desecration flag laws in forty eight states by ruling that flag desecration is protected by freedom of speech under the First Amendment. The Flag Protection Act that Congress had passed was unconstitutional. In the act of two protesters, the Supreme Court stood by its previous ruling and struck down the Federal Statutes.

From 1990-2006, several flag desecration amendments were attempted by Congress to overturn the U. S. Supreme Court decision by making exceptions to the First Amendment in order to allow the government to ban the desecration of the U. S. flag. In 1990 and 1994, Congress did not have enough votes to make an amendment to the First Amendment regarding freedom of speech for the U. S. Flag.

I feel that the U. S. Supreme Court should revise their decision on the law on flag desecration because the flag is a sign of justice, liberty and freedom for all in the United States. The flag is a national treasure and should be treated as such. My family, friends, Congress and Presidents wear patches on their uniform and lapels of the flag. We honor our officials and heroes by draping their caskets with a US flag. When Francis Scott Key saw the flag flying in the distance he wrote Star-Spangled Banner to honor it. Maybe someday it will be unconstitutional to desecrate the Flag of the United States and treat it as it was meant to be treated with honor.

Flag Burning Laws – History of U.S. Laws against Flag Burning by Tom Head, about.com.guide

Constitutional Law and the Criminal Justice System, J. Scott Harr, JD, Concordia University, Saint Paul, Karen M. Hess, P.D, Normandale Community College, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Fourth Edition 2008