Texas Flag-Desecration Law Unconstitutional

The government threat to free expression:

Within the past few months there has been much talk about Texas' Flag-Desecration Law. It has been struck down by a State court, "invalidating this seldom-enforced ban that lawmakers enacted in 1989. This law came into conversation when Terrance Johnson, 20, was arrested and thrown into jail after grabbing a flag outside of a store and throwing it onto the ground. Some state that his actions were not an act of free expression but an act of anger, but many believe that throwing a flag to the ground is protected by our first amendment right. Johnson's attorney, Joshua Liles, said: "anyone who respects free speech should welcome the law being knocked down."

This law has been ruled unconstitutional because it infringes on American citizen's First Amendment rights of free expression. Due to the destructive actions towards a patriotic symbol, the flag, many are up in arms for protecting this form of speech. 

A link to the NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth article is here.

Principles and discussion: 

This law should outrage and concern citizens across the United States. This is a blatant disregard for the First Amendment and is an over-reach of the government's power over free expression. The United States of America was founded on liberty and the pursuit of freedom for all citizens. This argument that supports this law is that the American flag represents patriotism for the United States and the liberty provided by being an American citizen. The flag is a blatant symbol for freedom of speech, including the freedom to desecrate a beloved symbol.

As Anthony Lewis states in his book, to protect the freedom of speech/expression, we must first seek to protect the speech we hate. Once we start on the path of limiting speech and expression it becomes a slippery slope in which we cannot pick and choose which we protect and which we do not. If we want the American flag to symbolize true freedom we must allow all forms of speech to be protected under the law.

—Submitted by Laci Lynn