Why was the case of Texas v. Johnson important to the US?

Answer 1

Texas v. Johnson was one of a series of flag desecration cases challenging state and federal statutes prohibiting burning or otherwise damaging a flag, as a violation of First Amendment protection of freedom of speech and political expression.

When the US Supreme Court upheld the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas ruling overturning Gregory Johnson's conviction for burning a flag at a protest rally, it struck down the Texas statute as unconstitutional.

The following year, the Supreme Court also overturned the new federal Flag Protection Act of 1989 in the case United States v. Eichman, 496 US 310 (1990) as unconstitutional.

Since 1990, Congress has made at least seven attempts to overrule the Supreme Court by passing a Constitutional Amendment making flag burning an exception to First Amendment protection. Although House Resolutions have passed several times, the bills have consistently failed in the Senate.

The battle between protecting the flag as a national symbol and protecting freedom of expression granted in the Bill of Rights is ongoing.

In February 2009, a Sarpy County, Nebraska, judge denied a Kansas woman the opportunity to challenge Nebraska's anti-desecration law, which remains on the books despite the US Supreme Court ruling.

Case Citation:

Texas v. Johnson, 491 US 397 (1989)

For more information on Texas v. Johnson, (1989) and other Supreme Court flag-desecration cases, see Related Links, below.