Texas v. Johnson

Texas v. Johnson (1989) was a Supreme Court case about whether burning the U.S. flag as a form of protest is protected free speech under the First Amendment. Gregory Lee Johnson burned a flag during a political demonstration at the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas. The state of Texas convicted him for desecration of a venerated object. The Supreme Court ruled that flag burning is a form of symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment, emphasizing that the government cannot prohibit expression simply because it’s offensive or disagreeable.