Case Categories: Flag (Treatment of)

• Halter v. Nebraska (1907)

  Halter v. Nebraska (1907) upheld a state law that prohibited the use of the American flag in advertising. Modern flag desecration is protected by the First...

• Smith v. Goguen (1974)

  In Smith v. Goguen (1974), the Supreme Court said a Massachusetts law that criminalized contemptuous treatment of the American flag violated the First Amendment...

• Spence v. Washington (1974)

  In Spence v. Washington (1974), the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment protects the right to desecrate the American flag as a form of symbolic protest...

• Street v. New York (1969)

  Street v. New York (1969) ruled in a flag-burning case by citing the First Amendment’s protection of “words” but side-stepped the controversial “action...

• Texas v. Johnson (1989)

  Texas v. Johnson (1989) struck down on First Amendment grounds a flag desecration law. The has decision served as the crux of the debate about burning of the U....

• United States v. Eichman (1990)

  United States v. Eichman (1990) said the Flag Protection Act of 1989, which banned desecrating an American flag, violated First Amendment freedom of expression...