{ "id": "95-709", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "95-709", "active": false, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 399465, "date": "2012-02-07", "retrieved": "2016-04-07T00:16:25.164116", "title": "Flag Protection: A Brief History and Summary of Supreme Court Decisions and Proposed Constitutional Amendments", "summary": "This report is divided into two parts. The first gives a brief history of the flag protection issue, from the enactment of the Flag Protection Act in 1968 through current consideration of a constitutional amendment. The second part briefly summarizes the two decisions of the United States Supreme Court, Texas v. Johnson and United States v. Eichman, that struck down the state and federal flag protection statutes as applied in the context punishing expressive conduct.\nIn 1968, Congress reacted to the numerous public flag burnings in protest of the Vietnam conflict by passing the first federal flag protection act of general applicability. For the next 20 years, the lower courts upheld the constitutionality of this statute and the Supreme Court declined to review these decisions. However, in Texas v. Johnson, the majority of the Court held that a conviction for flag desecration under a Texas statute was inconsistent with the First Amendment and affirmed a decision of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that barred punishment for burning the flag as part of a public demonstration.\nIn response to Johnson, Congress passed the Flag Protection Act of 1989. But, in reviewing this act in United States v. Eichman, the Supreme Court expressly declined the invitation to reconsider Johnson and its rejection of the contention that flag-burning, like obscenity or \u201cfighting words,\u201d does not enjoy the full protection of the First Amendment as a mode of expression. The only question not addressed in Johnson, and therefore the only question the majority felt necessary to address, was \u201cwhether the Flag Protection Act is sufficiently distinct from the Texas statute that it may constitutionally be applied to proscribe appellees\u2019 expressive conduct.\u201d The majority of the Court held that it was not.\nMany Members of Congress see continued tension between \u201cfree speech\u201d decisions of the Supreme Court, which protect flag desecration as expressive conduct under the First Amendment, and the symbolic importance of the United States flag. Consequently, every Congress that has convened since those decisions were issued has considered proposals that would permit punishment of those who engage in flag desecration. In six of the last eight Congresses, the House passed proposed constitutional amendments which would have authorized Congress to enact legislation to protect the flag from physical desecration. In the 104th Congress, the Senate considered a \u201cflag\u201d amendment, but came three votes short of passing it. In the 106th Congress, S.J.Res. 14 failed, by a vote of 63-37, to receive the necessary two-thirds vote in the Senate. In the 109th Congress, S.J.Res. 12 failed by a vote of 66 to 34 (one vote short of the necessary two-thirds required for passage). There were no \u201cflag\u201d amendment votes in the Senate in the 105th, 107th, 108th, 110th, or 111th Congresses.\nIn the 112th Congress, an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to prohibit desecration of the flag has been introduced in both the House and the Senate. H.J.Res. 13 proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the United States which would authorize Congress to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States. An identical bill, S.J.Res. 19, has been introduced in the Senate.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/95-709", "sha1": "0c3f82f1a0b9fbeacde605fe9a8762f5b50e83a1", "filename": "files/20120207_95-709_0c3f82f1a0b9fbeacde605fe9a8762f5b50e83a1.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/95-709", "sha1": "a032e759dc87357711f3acef4e86a22f50f97c3a", "filename": "files/20120207_95-709_a032e759dc87357711f3acef4e86a22f50f97c3a.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc83825/", "id": "95-709_2011Jan20", "date": "2011-01-20", "retrieved": "2012-04-27T15:49:45", "title": "Flag Protection: A Brief History and Summary of Supreme Court Decisions and Proposed Constitutional Amendments", "summary": "This report is divided into two parts. The first gives a brief history of the flag protection issue, from the enactment of the Flag Protection Act in 1968 through current consideration of a constitutional amendment. The second part briefly summarizes the two decisions of the United States Supreme Court, Texas v. Johnson and United States v. Eichman, that struck down the state and federal flag protection statutes as applied in the context punishing expressive conduct.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20110120_95-709_fd9d819793ae635002395b514179ab785f7d8334.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20110120_95-709_fd9d819793ae635002395b514179ab785f7d8334.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Commemorations", "name": "Commemorations" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Constitutional amendments", "name": "Constitutional amendments" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Supreme Court decisions", "name": "Supreme Court decisions" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Flags", "name": "Flags" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Constitution", "name": "Constitution" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Law", "name": "Law" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc817030/", "id": "95-709_2009Jun15", "date": "2009-06-15", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Flag Protection: A Brief History and Summary of Recent Supreme Court Decisions and Proposed Constitutional Amendments", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20090615_95-709_769f9051bed948c05829167f3689b58c3f215df9.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20090615_95-709_769f9051bed948c05829167f3689b58c3f215df9.html" } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc29493/", "id": "95-709_2009Jan07", "date": "2009-01-07", "retrieved": "2010-12-04T14:26:25", "title": "Flag Protection: A Brief History and Summary of Recent Supreme Court Decisions and Proposed Constitutional Amendments", "summary": "Many Members of Congress see continued tension between \"free speech\" decisions of the Supreme Court, which protect flag desecration as expressive conduct under the First Amendment, and the symbolic importance of the United States flag. This report is divided into two parts. The first gives a brief history of the flag protection issue, from the enactment of the Flag Protection Act in 1968 through current consideration of a constitutional amendment. The second part briefly summarizes the two decisions of the United States Supreme Court, Texas v. Johnson and United States v. 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