William J. Brennan Jr. Quotes
We can imagine no more appropriate response to burning a flag than to waving one's own, no better way to counter a flag-burner's message than by saluting the flag that burns, no surer means of preserving the dignity even of the flag that burned than by, as one witness here did, according its remains a respectful burial.
William J. Brennan, Jr., 1906-1997, U. S. Supreme Court Justice, Texas v. Johnson, 1989
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The symbolic value attached to the flag in America was surprising for this French observer.
In the attack on Fort Wagner, the color bearer was killed as was the Commanding Officer, Colonel Shaw. Carney raised the flag and led the men up the sand wall into the Confederate midst. They were vastly outnumbered and then retreated. Carney was the first Black to win the Medal of Honor.
When southern states began seizing U. S. Government property, Dix ordered: Although Dix was a Democrat, he broke from his Southern colleagues over the slavery issue and sided with the Republicans on the war.
Referring to the Supreme Court decision, Texas v. Johnson (1989), in which flag burning was held to be constitutionally protected speech:
Trump was then President Elect who already had a large staff helping him fomake the transition. He still went off on his own with this state,ment whiich runs afoul of the Constitution which he would soon sware to defend when he took the Oath of Office. The Supreme Court had unequivocably ruled that the burning of the flag was a type of political speech and as such could not be curtailed or punished by the government. The penalty of a loss of citizenship was another constitutional thicket. In addition. in the hisoty of the country,, it had never been used as a punishment for breaking domestic law.
William Joseph Brennan Jr. was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1956 to 1990. He was the seventh-longest-serving justice in Supreme Court history, and known for being a leader of the Court's liberal wing.
