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Texas vs. Johnson 1989

Texas vs. Johnson 1989. By Adam Feura. Historical Background.

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Texas vs. Johnson 1989

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  1. Texas vs. Johnson 1989 By Adam Feura

  2. Historical Background The United States flag is a symbol of our nation as a whole and free country. Our flag should be treated with respect and not burned in protests. Over the years the burning of our flag has been used as a protest of war. Following these protests some laws were proposed to ban such acts of non-patriotisms.

  3. Circumstances of Case At a Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas a man named Gregory Johnson took a flag down from the Convention Center, covered it in kerosene, and set it on fire. He was immediately arrested, prosecuted, and convicted. After an appeal the Texas 5th Court of Appeals upheld the sentencing. The conviction was then overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals because they said it was in has 1st Amendment right to freedom of expression. Texas then appealed the case to the Supreme Court.

  4. Constitutional Issues The main issue is that the flag is a national symbol of our country and shows our unity, so is the burning of such a major American symbol such as the flag ok because of the 1st amendment?

  5. Arguments for Texas There are many other ways that Johnson could have protested other than burning a symbol as important as the American flag. Burning the flag caused such a controversy because it’s such a big deal to all people who have a great sense of patriotism. Texas as a state in the United States had the right to be offended by this act.

  6. Arguments against Texas The freedom to express yourself technically covers the burning of the flag even though it is very offensive to a lot of people.

  7. Decision and Rationale After the court voted it was decided by the narrowest margin that Johnson would be dropped of all charges and the Texas law was determined to be unconstitutional.

  8. My Opinion on the Court Ruling I think that Johnson was very wrong in what he did and he should have been punished. Even though his freedom to express himself is protected by the 1st Amendment it was still wrong for him to do what he did and in my opinion he should have gotten in a lot of trouble for burning a symbol of our country.

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