A Political Demonstration Of The Dallas City Hall

In 1984 in front of the Dallas City Hall during the Republican National Convention, respondent Gregory Lee Johnson participated in a political demonstration to protest the policies of the Reagan administrations and some Dallas-bound corporations. Johnson proceeded with burning an American flag in protest against the policies, where Reagan sought to stimulate the economy with large tax cuts. Johnson was tried and convicted, under Texas law, of the desecration of a venerated object. The State Court of Appeals affirmed the actions, until the case advanced to the Supreme Court after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction, holding that the State (consistent with the First Amendment) could not punish Johnson†¦show more content†¦Under the circumstances, Johnson s burning of the flag constituted expressive conduct, permitting him to invoke the First Amendment. The State conceded that the conduct was expressive. 2 Texas has not asserted an interest in support of Johnson s conviction that is unrelated to the suppression of expression and would therefore permit application of the test set forth in the United State v. O Brien, 391 U.S. 367, where an important governmental interest in regulating nonspeech can justify incidental limitations on First Amendment Freedoms when speech and nonspeech elements are combined in the same course of conduct. Expression may not be prohibited [p. 398] on the basis that an audience that takes serious offense to the expression may disturb the peace, since the Government cannot assume that every expression of a provocative idea will incite a riot, but must look to the actual circumstances surrounding the expression. Texas interest in preserving the flag as a symbol of nationhood and national unity is related to expression in this case, and thus falls outside the O Brien test. (Texas v. Johnson). 3 David O Brien burned his draft card at a Boston courthouse, claiming that he was expressing his opposition to war. O Brien was then convicted under a federal law that rendered the mutilation or destruction of draft cards a crime. In a 7-to-1