Reacting to protests during the
Vietnam War era, the United States
90th Congress
The 90th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 196 ...
enacted Public Law 90-381 (82 Stat. 291), later codified as 18 U.S.C. 700, et. seq., and better known as the Flag Protection Act of 1968. It was an expansion to nationwide applicability of a 1947 law previously restricted only to the District of Columbia (''See'' 61 Stat. 642).
In 1989, the
101st Congress
The 101st United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1989 ...
amended that statute with Public Law 101-131 (103 Stat. 777). These amendments to the statute were in response to the
United States Supreme Court's ruling that year in the case of ''
Texas v. Johnson
''Texas v. Johnson'', 491 U.S. 397 (1989), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court held, 5–4, that burning the American flag was protected speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution, as do ...
'' (491 U.S. 397). On June 11, 1990, the Supreme Court in the case of ''
United States v. Eichman
''United States v. Eichman'', 496 U.S. 310 (1990), was a United States Supreme Court case that invalidated a federal law against flag desecration as a violation of free speech under the First Amendment. It was argued together with the case ''Unite ...
'' struck down the Flag Protection Act, ruling again that the government's interest in preserving the flag as a symbol does not outweigh the individual's
First Amendment right to disparage that symbol through expressive conduct.
United States v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 (1990).
/ref>
Text
The text of the law reads:
See also
* Flag desecration
References
1968 in law
United States federal legislation
Flag controversies in the United States
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