Quote:
Originally Posted by anothersteve
And I refer you to this:
In addition to the Flag Code, a separate provision contained in the Federal
Criminal Code established criminal penalties for certain treatment of the flag.6
Prior
to 1989, this provision provided criminal penalties for certain acts of desecration to
the flag. In response to the Supreme Court decision in Texas v. Johnson7
(which held
that anti-desecration statutes are unconstitutional if aimed at suppressing one type of
expression), Congress enacted the Flag Protection Act of 1989 to provide criminal
penalties for certain acts which violate the physical integrity of the flag.8
This law
imposed a fine and/or up to one year in prison for knowingly mutilating, defacing,
physically defiling, maintaining on the floor, or trampling upon any flag of the United
States. In 1990, however, the Supreme Court held that the Flag Protection Act was
unconstitutional as applied to a burning of the flag in a public protest.9
https://www.senate.gov/reference/res...df/RL30243.pdf
Steve |
So then you are agreeing with me. The Flag Code is intact, and the Flag Code states that it is unlawful to display a flag that is touching the ground. The "separate provision" - known as the Flag Protection Act, which defines penalties for violating the law and which is
in addition to the existing, intact Flag Code - is unconstitutional. Interesting case, especially reading the last part of the last sentence - as applied to the burning of the flag in a public protest.
It's unlawful to do it, but the penalty created by the 1989 law was determined to be unconstitutional - without changing the law that made the act illegal in the first place.