Posted on 08/13/2024 7:22:21 PM PDT by DoodleBob
Burning the American flag is protected political speech. In the 1980s, a Texas man named Gregory Lee Johnson was sentenced to one year in jail for burning an American flag to protest the Reagan administration. A Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed Johnson’s conviction, and the Supreme Court ruled in Johnson v. Texas in 1989 that the Texas man’s burning of the flag was protected speech under the First Amendment. The 5-4 majority opinion was written by liberal Justice William Brennan Jr. and joined by conservative Justices Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia.
Shortly before his death, in a 2015 public appearance, Scalia commented on the precedent-setting 1989 decision, saying, “If it were up to me, I would put in jail every sandal-wearing, scruffy bearded weirdo who burns the American flag. But I am not king.”
>>”In the 1989 case Texas v. Johnson, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the act of burning an American flag is constitutionally protected free speech under the First Amendment.”
Well that settles it as far as the left is concerned - just like the Dobbs decision and the recent Presidential immunity decision settles it.
I believe that there is a First Amendment right to desecrate the Flag.
I also believe that such a right must only be permitted to be exercised between 0001 and 0200 hours in the parking lot of a Legion post.
And I further believe that others will then offer their own interpretation of “freedom of expression”.
In America a Palestinian can burn the U.S. flag but if I. Urn a Hamas flag I as an American will go to jail.
America has been subjugated by foreigners and is not longer a country.
If a person steals someone else's flag, that is theft, vandalism, and so forth. Let the owner deal with it. Something like 'fighting words', else let them file charges. Maybe set a law for this type of action to 10 years and 100,000 fine, paid to the victim. Plus, court costs.
If a person buys and burns their own flag, well that's a covered first amendment action.
Flag burning isn’t a free speech issue.
It is a property rights issue.
If some dope wants to burn their flag, that’s their right. I don’t own their flag, and that isn’t my property. The dope bought that flag with his money.
I think burning a flag is bad form, unpatriotic (unless it’s a torn flag needed to be retired), and says a lot about the burner.
But I don’t want the government nationalizing private property.
Yep. If he had used that precedent, the media would have a hard time challenging him without exposing the hypocrisy
Yes, how do they reconcile burning a US flag is okay but leaving marks on a disgusting homosexual flag is wrong?
want real trouble? burn a fag flag.
They imprison people who desecrate rainbow flags as a hate crime. Same with stupid paintings on crosswalks. How come it’s not a hate crime to burn the American flag?
If you can be fined and jailed for desecrating a
gay pride flag (which has happened), you should certainly be jailed and fined for desecrating our country’s flag.
hear, hear
Desecrating the degenerate faggotry flag is illegal.
To stretch things a little -
Is shooting Trump’s ear a first amendment expression?
. Or is it just us who are aware of that binding precedent who are "stupid"?
If you burn your own rainbow flag, it’s protected speech. If you burn someone else’s, it isn’t.
No; there’s a SCOTUS decision. You know, like Dred Scott v. Sandford and Plessy v. Ferguson . . .
I fear Trump is poorly-informed on this topic.
And yes.
Because in the case of the pickup truck driver intentionally leaving tire marks, the “flag” is public property.
Remember the summer of 2020? Remember all that mostly peaceful destruction of public property? That was a crime.
Forget, for the time being, the inconsistent execution of the law in 2020 vs the painted flag.
The same socialism that infected rioters’ heads and made them think it was ok to deface court houses etc in 2020 is the same socialism infecting the truck driver.
As soon as you realize this is a property rights issue, things snap into place.
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