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Suggest pagesUnited States v. Eichman
| United States v. Eichman | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Supreme Court of the United States |
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| Argued May 14, 1990 Decided June 11, 1990 |
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| Full case name | United States v. Shawn Eichman et al. | |||||
| Citations | 496 U.S. 310 (more) | |||||
| Prior history | Consolidation of United States v. Eichman (D.D.C.), 731 F.Supp. 1123 (1990) and United States v. Haggerty (W.D.Wash), 731 F.Supp. 415 (1990) | |||||
| Holding | ||||||
| The government's interest in preserving the flag as a symbol did not outweigh the individual right to disparage that symbol through expressive conduct. | ||||||
| Court membership | ||||||
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| Case opinions | ||||||
| Majority | Brennan, joined by Marshall, Blackmun, Scalia, Kennedy | |||||
| Dissent | Stevens, joined by Rehnquist, White, O'Connor | |||||
| Laws applied | ||||||
| U.S. Const. amend. I | ||||||
United States v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 (1990) was a United States Supreme Court case that invalidated a federal law against flag desecration as violative of free speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution. It was argued together with the case United States v. Haggerty. It built on the opinion handed down in the Court's 1989 decision in Texas v. Johnson, which invalidated on First Amendment grounds a Texas state statute banning flag-burning.
Contents |
[edit] Subsequent actions
On remand, the Eichman case was dismissed, as those defendants had only been charged with flag desecration. However, the Haggerty case had an additional charge of destruction of government property, as the burned flag was alleged to have been stolen from Seattle's Capitol Hill Post Office. To that charge, all four Seattle defendants pled guilty and were fined. Garza and Strong (who had prior convictions) served 3 days in jail each.
When Republicans retook control of Congress for the 104th session, the Flag Desecration Amendment was first proposed, which would grant the federal government the authority to proscribe flag burning. A resolution for this Amendment passed the House in every session from the 104th until the 109th Congress, but never got past the Senate (in the most recent vote, passage in the Senate failed by one vote), and has not been considered since the 109th Congress.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Text of United States v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 (1990) is available from: Justia · Findlaw · Esquilax
- US vs. Eichman audio recording of oral argument, May 14, 1990
- First Amendment Library entry on Eichman v. United States
- Street v. New York
- Texas v. Johnson
