ffensive.While the Republican National Convention was taking place in Dallas in 1984, respondent Johnson participated in a political protest. The purpose of this event was to protest the policies of the Reagan administration and of certain Dallas-based corporations. The demonstrators marched through the Dallas streets, chanting political slogans and stopping at several corporate locations to dramatize the consequences of nuclear war. On several occasions they spray-painted the walls of buildings and overturned potted plants, but Johnson himself took no part in such activities. He did, however, accept an American flag handed to him by a fellow protestor. The demonstration ended in front of Dallas City Hall, where Johnson unfolded the American flag, drenched it with kerosene, and set it on fire. While the flag burned, the protestors chanted. No one was physically injured or threatened with injury, though several witnesses had said that they had been seriously offended by the flag burning. Of all of the demonstrators, Johnson was the only person charged with a crime. The only criminal offense with which he was charged was the desecration of a venerated object. After a trial, he was convicted, sentenced to one year in prison, and fined $2,000. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas at Dallas affirmed Johnson's conviction, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the decision holding that the State could not punish Johnson for burning the flag in these circumstances in order to remain consistent with the First Amendment. This case went to the United States Supreme Court, in which the decision was made that punishing Johnson for burning the flag was unconstitutional. The Flag Protection Act, which was passed in 1989 basically states:A. 1. Whomever knowingly mutilates, defaces, physically defiles, burns, maintains on the for or ground, or tramples upon any flag of the United States shall be fined under this title or...
