Texas v. Johnson

Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989) was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that invalidated a Texas prohibition on desecrating the American flag. Justice William Brennan wrote for a five-justice majority in holding that the defendant's act of flag burning was protected speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Justice Anthony Kennedy joined the majority and wrote a concurring opinion. Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice John Paul Stevens wrote dissents.

Since this ruling, proposals have been made in Congress to amend the Constitution to prohibit flag burning, but none have been successful. Congress did, however, pass the 1989 Flag Protection Act, which was also struck by the same majority of justices as Johnson (in an opinion also written by Justice Brennan), in United States v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 (1990).