Burning The American Flag Research Paper

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The burning of the American flag is one of the biggest controversies that has been going on for years, whether it's an act of defiance and rebellion or if it's your right as freedom of speech. There has been multiple events where the act of burning of the flag has been involved and riots and violent outbursts followed soon after. In 1989 there was a case which ruled it as apart of the first amendment, granting it as your freedom of speech. This lead half of America in an uproar because they believed the burning of the American flag is disrespectful to everyone who has fought for the freedom that they have today. Their argument is that it may be your freedom of speech, but people died to give you that freedom. According to the Texas v. Johnson supreme court case, the burning of the American Flag is apart of the first amendment. As of 1989 it is a statue that claims burning of the flag is a symbolic speech. Justice William Brennan ruled in favor of Johnson because government is not able to discriminate against a way of speaking out about their feelings even when society finds it offensive and disrespectful (Facts and Case Summary, 2). Since the flag is a symbol of America’s freedom and burning classifies as expression and speech, the courts saw it as symbolic speech which is covered by the first amendment. Even though society finds it sickening, Justice William Brennan believed that we can't have our beliefs taint our views. There was also another case besides Texas v. …show more content…
Johnson called United States v. Eichman. This case took place a year after Texas v. Johnson. In 1989 Congress passed an act called the Flag Protection Act of 1989, which criminalized anyone who intentionally defaces, burns, rips, knowingly leaves on the floor or ground, or runs over the flag, unless it is being disposed off in a formal way because of getting unintentionally ruined. There were a few court cases after this act was passed that regarding the Flag Protection Act unconstitutional because of completely disregarding the First Amendment. The judges also looked back to Texas v. Johnson precedent on how their cases should proceed, because of this each cases charges were dismissed and the Act was declared unconstitutional (United States v, Cornell University). This was the second case regarding how the courts interpret burning of the American Flag and in both cases they ruled that under the first amendment it was your freedom of speech, and that no criminal actions could be taken. The flag is a symbol of our freedom and by burning that flag you are burning that idea and disregarding everybody's freedom. The flag symbolizes what our country has fought for and supports, so when you burn it, it is the equivalent to to saying you despise what we have fought for. America lost men who died in battle to protect that flag and to make sure it is always there for the people back on the homefront. Blood was shed to keep that flag flying and it is disrespectful to tear it down and burn it to the ground. There are many politicians who believe that this statue should become unconstitutional and a new one should form stating that legal action should be held if this crime is ever committed. One of this politicians is our current president, President Donald Trump. This controversy has been in debate between various political people and whether or not they should fight for it to be ruled as unconstitutional. President Donald Trump believes that “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American Flag- if they do, there must be consequences- perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!” (Donald Trump’s twitter). President Trump has not made any statements about what he declares to do about the statue on burning of the flag and his spokesman has repeatedly avoided questions regarding that. What Jason Mills, Trumps spokesperson, did say was “ Flag burning should be illegal. The President- elect is a very strong supporter of the First Amendment, but there’s a big difference between that and burning the American flag.” (Donald Trump: Burn, David Wright). Even though he had not outright said there will be a change in the near future regarding this issue, you can predict

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