This case set the precedent that states are within their rights to regulate the use of the United States flag. The opinion rejected Halter’s main argument, they could not see any argument that he could have made which would have made the law unconstitutional.
In Des Moines, Iowa in 1965, John F. Tinker, 15 years old, and Christopher Eckhardt, 16 years old, attended high schools in Des Moines, Iowa, and Mary Beth Tinker, who is John 's sister, 13-years-old and a student in junior high school planned on wearing black armbands in order to protest the governments policy in Vietnam. The school upon learning about the immanent protest soon adopted rules regulating the wearing of armbands, all students who attended school while wearing an armband …show more content…
Goguen a teenager, Valarie Goguen, was arrested on January Thirtyth, 1970 by local authorities for wearing a small cloth with the United States flag on the seat of his pants. The flag was clearly visible to people passing by. When arrested Goguen was standing on the sidewalk, speaking with friends. He was not demonstrating or currently protesting any cause. Goguen was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail for violating a Massachusetts flag desecration law. The law encompasses anyone who treats the flag “contemptuously’.
His conviction was upheld by the state supreme court. Assisted by the ACLU, the case went to the federal court, and the federal court overturned his conviction. Massachusetts then appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
Goguen’s legal team stated that his actions were protected under the fourteenth and first amendment. They stated that the law in question violated the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment, because it fails to draw reasonable clear lines between non ceremonial treatment of the flag that are criminal and those that are not. However, the state argued that the law was constitutional because it gave the public adequate notice of what actions where in violation of the
In Des Moines, Iowa in 1965, John F. Tinker, 15 years old, and Christopher Eckhardt, 16 years old, attended high schools in Des Moines, Iowa, and Mary Beth Tinker, who is John 's sister, 13-years-old and a student in junior high school planned on wearing black armbands in order to protest the governments policy in Vietnam. The school upon learning about the immanent protest soon adopted rules regulating the wearing of armbands, all students who attended school while wearing an armband …show more content…
Goguen a teenager, Valarie Goguen, was arrested on January Thirtyth, 1970 by local authorities for wearing a small cloth with the United States flag on the seat of his pants. The flag was clearly visible to people passing by. When arrested Goguen was standing on the sidewalk, speaking with friends. He was not demonstrating or currently protesting any cause. Goguen was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail for violating a Massachusetts flag desecration law. The law encompasses anyone who treats the flag “contemptuously’.
His conviction was upheld by the state supreme court. Assisted by the ACLU, the case went to the federal court, and the federal court overturned his conviction. Massachusetts then appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
Goguen’s legal team stated that his actions were protected under the fourteenth and first amendment. They stated that the law in question violated the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment, because it fails to draw reasonable clear lines between non ceremonial treatment of the flag that are criminal and those that are not. However, the state argued that the law was constitutional because it gave the public adequate notice of what actions where in violation of the