Flag burning.

A couple of words that evoke strong emotions in Americans, or perhaps in every country.

Concerns and legislation regarding flag burning — any act determined to be a desecration of the American flag — extend back scores of years.

Attempts to adopt federal legislation addressing misuse of the flag failed in 1897 and, as a result, several states adopted flag desecration statutes.

By 1932, every state had such laws.

The advent of these laws were the result of perceived misuse of the flag primarily for commercial purposes in the late 1800s, when it was used freely as part of advertising, with superimposed symbols and other graffiti appearing on the flag.

In 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt approved the Federal Flag Code which provided uniform guidelines for display and respect of the flag.

This code, still in use, does not prescribe penalties for non-compliance nor does it include any enforcement provisions.

In 1968, Congress approved the Federal Flag Desecration Law, making it “illegal to knowingly cast contempt upon any flag of the United States by publicly mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning or trampling upon it.”

Six years later, in Spence v. Washington, heard by the Supreme Court, a finding by that court held a protest involving the physical use of the flag should be seen as a form of protected expression under the First Amendment.

This was not a flag burning case, but one in which a peace sign made of tape had been attached to the flag as protest to the Kent State killings.

Perhaps the most notable recent case of flag desecration to make it to the Supreme Court is Texas v. Johnson.

On June 21, 1989, a deeply-divided Supreme Court voted, 5 to 4, in favor of Johnson who had been convicted under Texas law.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing in concurrence with the majority wrote: “The hard fact is that sometimes we must make decisions we do not like. We make them because they are right, right in the sense that the law and the Constitution, as we see them, compel the result”.

In reaction to the Johnson decision, which only applied to the state of Texas, Congress passed an anti-flag burning law called the Flag Protection Act of 1989.

This law was struck down by the Court in 1990. Justice William Brennan commented: “If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the Government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”

Following this decision, Congress considered and rejected a Constitutional Amendment which would have given Congress and the states the power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States. The amendment failed in both houses of Congress.

Today, the instances of flag burning are rare — except perhaps in other countries which hate the U.S. Most of the “desecration” that occurs today is from non-compliance with provisions of the Flag Code, such as displaying it inappropriately, wearing it as clothing or utilizing it for commercial purposes, such as when car lots decorate all the vehicles on the lot with small flags. Even Scout groups have been known to affix writing and names to the flag contrary to articles within the Flag Code.

Ironically, while flag burning is still considered an unacceptable method of protest, the preferred method of disposing of unserviceable flags is by burning.

The Marine Corps League and the GRC ROTC have seen to the proper disposal of thousands of American flags here. Prior to their efforts, flags were simply thrown in the trash.

Chuck Witt is a retired architect and a lifelong resident of Winchester. He can be reached at chuck740@bellsouth.net.