Have you ever thought about burning the American flag? In 1989, there was a case called Texas vs Johnson in which a man named Gregory Lee Johnson, a protester, burned an American flag in front of a convention center. He was then arrested, because according to Texas state law he ‘desecrated a venerated object.’ This case was brought all the way to the Supreme Court, and they decided it was protected under the first amendment as free speech. This ruling was very controversial back then and still is today. I believe that people have the right to burn a flag to protest in what they believe in, even if I think it’s disrespectful. I agree that it is in their constitutional rights and are allowed to do so. I will show how it is a part of our constitutional rights, how this has been controversial throughout history, and how the other side views this debate. …show more content…
They said that it was considered symbolic speech and that it helped to show that he was against Reagan administration policies. In the aftermath of this case, another man called Eichman went against the United States in 1990, saying that it should be in their Constitutional rights and won. Now people are able to desecrate or burn the flag in the right of the people. So now it is legal to burn a flag to get your point across for symbolic speech. More recently though, there was a report about Southern States being asked to remove the Confederate Flag from their capitals. In retaliation and in protest to this, they burned American Flags because they believe in