21 Jun 1989 Jahr - First Amendment Protects the Burning of the American Flag

Beschreibung:

One issue Bush had to face early in his presidency was the desecration of the American flag. The original court case of Texas vs Johnson sparked in August 1984 when Johnson burned an American flag in protest of Ronald Reagan’s policies. Johnson was arrested for violating Texas law that forbade desecration of the flag. There was much controversy about this and many felt that it should be an acceptable act as a form of protest. The case made it to the Supreme Court in June 1989 where they ruled 5-4 that the burning of the U.S. flag is a protected form of speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Congress attempted to override this decision by calling for an amendment to the Constitution that would permit laws against desecrating the flag, but again the Supreme Court ruled against such laws because it took away one of the American people’s guaranteed rights.