Retro Raunch Revisit

JUN 21, 1989: The US Supreme Court in the case of Texas v. Johnson delivers its controversial decision that burning the American flag is not illegal and instead a form of political protest protected by the First Amendment. The ruling stemmed from Communist Youth Brigade activist Gregory Lee Johnson who in Aug 1984 burned a flag outside the Republican National Convention in Dallas. Arrested & charged with vandalism, he was also fined $2,000 and sentenced to 1yr in jail in accordance with Texas law. Defended by legendary attorney William Kunstler, he appealed his conviction twice which was upheld both times until finally reaching the nation's highest court which overruled the judgement. They found that Johnson's actions were symbolic speech to which his First Amendment rights had been violated, and that his actions under the Constitution could not be censored or punished as it did not represent a breach of the peace. The legal verdict invalidated prohibitions on flag desecration which was enforced in 48 of the 50 States, and it was unpopular with lawmakers & the general public alike, and also criticized by President George H. Bush who called any such dispaly "dead wrong". Congress challenged the decision and in Oct, tried to introduce new legislation by way of changing a statute in 1968's Flag Protection Act that would make desecration a federal crime but this provision was again overturned by the Supreme Court in Jun 1990 that kept Texas v. Johnson in place. In the years afterwards that have seen numerous raucous incidents of flag desecrators arrested for protesting during city unrest, marching in the path of racial awakening, and/or demonstrating in opposition to government policy, time & again prosecutors have dropped the charges against the offenders and in some cases have paid financial setlements.