| Texas v. Johnson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued March 21, 1989 Decided June 21, 1989 | |
| Full case name | Texas v. Gregory L. Johnson |
| Citations | 491 U.S. 397 (more) 109 S. Ct. 2533; 105 L. Ed. 2d 342; 1989 U.S. LEXIS 3115; 57 U.S.L.W. 4770 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Defendant convicted, Dallas County Criminal Court; affirmed, 706 S.W.2d 120 (Tex. App. 1986); reversed and remanded for dismissal, 755 S.W.2d 92 (Tex. Crim. App. 1988); cert. granted, 488 U.S. 884 (1988). |
| Holding | |
| Gregory Lee Johnson's conviction was inconsistent with the First Amendment. Any statute that criminalizes the desecration of the American flag is unconstitutional. Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Brennan, joined by Marshall, Blackmun, Scalia, Kennedy |
| Concurrence | Kennedy |
| Dissent | Rehnquist, joined by White, O'Connor |
| Dissent | Stevens |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amends. I, XIV; Desecration of a Venerated Object, Tex. Penal Code § 42.09(a)(3)(1989)[a] | |
Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989), is a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court held, 5–4, that burning the Flag of the United States was protected speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as doing so counts as symbolic speech and political speech.
In the case, activist Gregory Lee Johnson was convicted for burning an American flag during a protest outside the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas, and was fined $2,000 and sentenced to one year in jail in accordance with Texas law. Justice William Brennan wrote for the five-justice majority that Johnson's flag burning was protected under the freedom of speech, and therefore the state could not censor Johnson nor punish him for his actions.
The ruling invalidated prohibitions on desecrating the American flag, which at the time were enforced in 48 of the 50 states. The ruling was unpopular with the general public and lawmakers, with President George H. W. Bush calling flag burning "dead wrong". The ruling was challenged by Congress, which passed the Flag Protection Act later that year, making flag desecration a federal crime. The law's constitutionality was contested before the Supreme Court, which again affirmed in United States v. Eichman (1990) that flag burning was a protected form of free speech and struck down the Flag Protection Act as violating the First Amendment. In the years following the ruling, Congress several times considered the Flag Desecration Amendment, which would have amended the Constitution to make flag burning illegal, but never passed it. The issue of flag burning remained controversial decades later, and it is still used as a form of protest.[2]
Time magazine described it as one of the best Supreme Court decisions since 1960,[3] with legal scholars since stating about it that "Freedom of speech applies to symbolic expression, such as displaying flags, burning flags, wearing armbands, burning crosses, and the like."[4]
- ^ "PENAL CODE CHAPTER 42: Disorderly Conduct". Congress of the Republic of Texas. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
- ^ Hall, Louise (June 14, 2021). "What is Flag Day and why are some people burning flags". The Independent. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
- ^ Sachs, Andrea (February 10, 2021). "The Best Supreme Court Decisions Since 1960". Time. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
- ^ "Flag burning and the First Amendment: Yet another look at the two | Constitution Center". National Constitution Center – constitutioncenter.org. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
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