Political Quotes

“The American flag serves a unique role as the symbol of the ideals upon which America was founded. It is a national asset that helps to preserve our unity, our freedom, and our liberty as Americans. This symbol represents our country's many hard-won freedoms paid for with the lives of thousands and thousands of young men and women over this Nation's history. For years, 48 States and the District of Columbia enforced laws prohibiting the physical desecration of the American flag. In the 1989 Texas v. Johnson ruling, the United States Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote overthrew what until then had been settled law and ruled that flag desecration as a means of public protest is an act of free expression protected by the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution. A year later, essentially reiterating its Johnson ruling, the court in U.S. v. Eichman, another 5-4 ruling, by the way, struck down a Federal statute prohibiting the physical desecration of the flag despite the court's own conclusion that the statute was content-neutral.”