The Pros And Cons Of American Flag Burning

There is a controversial question as to whether or not the burning of the American Flag should be protected as a first amendment right. The flag has been burned many times throughout history as an act of defiance or hatred of the choices made in the country. This is looked at as immoral and many think it should be against the law. The burning of the American flag should not be tolerated because the first amendment, the meaning of the flag and what is stands for in the country. These topics possess many argumentative reasons as to why flag burning is wrong.
The first amendment is written as, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of

The law stated that “the flag is not to be laid on the ground or physically defiled.” The whole controversy started when Gregory Lee Johnson was arrested in August of 1984 for burning the flag in Texas, where at the time, it was against the law to burn or defile the flag. He was sentenced to one year in jail and had to pay a $2,000 fine. The supreme court then had to determine the case on the amendment that was going through the amendment process. After the amendment was reviewed the supreme court did not pass it as a law. Justice Anthony Kennedy says, “The hard fact is that sometimes we make decisions we do not like. We make them because they are right, right in the sense of the law and the constitution, as we see them, compel the result.” After the case was fought over it was determined that flag burning was protected under the first amendment with a 4-5 vote in the Johnson’s favor. After this, the controversial topic became twice as popular for people who agreed and those who did

Chicago tribune wrote on behalf of the newspaper and stated, “This newspaper proudly displays the American flag on the top of the front page because of the people and freedom is represents.” This article was written back in 2005 after a rally in Utah. Then on July 3rd 2015, the day before the celebration of America’s independence, there was another flag burning protest after people were asked to remove confederate flags. Many people were burning the United States flag as well as the confederate flag. A man that attended the protest, a former soldier that went by “Joe” said, “If they have a problem with the government, she shouldn’t take it out on the flags that are laid on dead soldiers’ caskets. Got to washington and take it up with the politicians, not with my flag.” There were others who contradicted this statement saying that people had the right to burn the flags and they could do so with it as they pleased. A former national commander of the American legion (Fang Wong) disagreed saying, “Just because you have the right to burn the American flag does not mean you should. It is a cowardly way of showing what you believe in.” Mr. Wong was the first Asian American to head the American Legion, he along with many others agreed with the amendment to prohibit flag