States' unconstitutional flag-burning laws persist

By DAVID MERCER Associated Press 2 hrs ago

... An Associated Press analysis shows at least 40 states still have flag-desecration laws, punishing those who burn or otherwise damage U.S. and, in most cases, state flags with fines or even jail time. A handful of Southern states extend that protection to Confederate flags. Yet, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in separate cases in 1989 and 1990 that flag burning and other forms of damage are constitutionally protected free speech.

Most people who burn flags in protest, like those outside of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July, are not arrested. But at least eight people have been arrested since 2007 for things such as burning a flag while walking in traffic and hanging a torn flag from a tree. And there appears to be little political motivation to change or do away with the flag-desecration laws, an act for which some voters might punish them.

“Inevitably someone who is not schooled in Supreme Court decisions reads the statute book and says, ‘Hey, let’s take this guy in,’” said Ken Paulson, dean of the College of Media and Entertainment at Middle Tennessee State University and president of the First Amendment Center. He argues the laws need to be repealed, saying, “Otherwise innocent people will be arrested.”

Arkansas, Connecticut, Missouri, New Hampshire and Rhode Island are the only states to have taken any kind of action to get rid of their flag-desecration laws, while Alaska, Wyoming and Wisconsin have no such laws ...

http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/states-flag-burning-laws-unconstitutional-but-persist/article_8c7001e0-8ec7-57be-8f75-a96c65cc3fbb.html