![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() 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. ![]() Court said using flag for symbolic speech was protectedįive years later in Spence v. The Court did not decide whether it would have been constitutional to convict Street for actually burning the flag, because it could not separate this issue from the words he uttered. New York (1969) reached the Supreme Court, the Court, in a 5-4 vote, reversed the conviction, stating that Street could not be punished for speaking defiantly or with contemptuous words about the flag. 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.Īs a matter of principle, he filed suit, and when Street v. 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. 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.” Court later looked at flag desecration in conjunction with speech 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. The first Supreme Court case dealing with flag desecration was Halter v. Court originally upheld flag-desecration laws In the years since the Vietnam War, Congress and the Supreme Court have once again been grappling with the issue. The World War II era saw many states adopting flag salute laws. In the years prior to and during World War I, states began to adopt flag desecration laws. symbol, flag desecration remains one of the nation’s most controversial and polarizing issues. Several times during the 20th century, the Supreme Court handed down decisions on flag desecration.Ĭoncerns about the flag generally fall into three distinct periods. (AP Photo, used with permission from The Associated Press)īecause the American flag is arguably the most sacred U.S. This photo shows a policeman putting out the fire. flag after marching to the State House in Boston in 1971. In this photo, anti-war demonstrators burn the U.S. 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. policies continues to be a controversial issue in the United States. Burning the American flag as a symbol of protest against U.S. ![]()
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