Flag Desecration
The issue of flag desecration has been and continues to be ahighly controversial issue; on the one side there are those whobelieve that the flag is a unique symbol for our nation whichshould be preserved at all costs, while on the other are thosewho believe that flag burning is a form of free speech and thatany legislation designed to prevent this form of expression iscontrary to the ideals of the First Amendment to our Shawn Eichman, as well as the majority of the United StatesSupreme Court, is in the latter of these groups. Many citizensbelieve that the freedom of speech granted to them in the FirstAmendment means that they can express themselves in any mannerthey wish as long as their right of expression does not infringeon the rights of others; others, however, believe that there areexceptions to this right of speech. Such constitutional issuesneed to be worked out by the Supreme Court, which uses its powersof constitutional interpretation and judicial review to outlinethe underpinnings of the Constitution and interpret the law. The case which acted as an impetus for Eichman's actions wasthat of Texas v. Johnson. "In 1984, in Dallas, Gregory Johnson,
In 1995, however, the amendment clearedthe House by a vote of 312-120. Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade, a Maoistssociety, publicly burned a stolen American flag to protests there-nomination of Ronald Reagan as the Republican candidate" (Levy217). A sharply divided Court had previously dealtwith symbolic speech cases that involved alleged misuses of theflag. In February of 1998, Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and MaxCleland (D-GA) reintroduced the amendment as S. (Ted) He goes on to mention that this constitutional amendment might"irreparably damage the separation of powers that has protectedour constitutional freedoms throughout history. Since the ratification of the Constitutionin 1789, some 10,000 attempts have been made to amend it. Perhaps the mostardent opponent to the amendment was Ted Kennedy. "Citizens' Flag Alliance: Significant Campaign Events. Few, if any, of those are more fundamental to the strength of our democracy than the first amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech. " That exception, as the Court majority in United Statesv. The case which acted as an impetus for Eichman's actions wasthat of Texas v. For the majority opinion, Justice Brennan wrote thefollowing: Although the Flag Protection Act contains no explicit content-based limitation on the scope of prohibited conduct, it is nevertheless clear that the Government's asserted interest is related to the suppression of free expression. In this research, I noted that all of the proponents for theEichman decision who were also against the Flag ProtectionAmendment used very logical, well-structured arguments, whilethose dissenting and in support of the "amendment to anamendment" use mostly emotional arguments and focus on therespect owed to all those who have died in the militaryprotecting the nation.
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Acceptance Essays
