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States' Flag-Burning Laws Unconstitutional, but Persist
Source: Associated Press
States' Flag-Burning Laws Unconstitutional, but Persist
By DAVID MERCER, ASSOCIATED PRESS URBANA, Ill. — Jul 30, 2016, 11:11 AM ET
Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz had just finished walking in a July 4th parade when her assistant told her a central Illinois man had been arrested on suspicion of burning an American flag.
Rietz said she knew "immediately" that the Urbana Police Department needed to release Bryton Mellott, who posted a video of the act on Facebook and whom police initially said they arrested to protect from threats. The state law used to jail him, though clear in its prohibition of desecrating either the U.S. or state flags, is unconstitutional.
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Most people who burn flags in protest, like those outside of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this month, 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 He argues the laws need to be repealed, saying, "Otherwise innocent people will be arrested."
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By DAVID MERCER, ASSOCIATED PRESS URBANA, Ill. — Jul 30, 2016, 11:11 AM ET
Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz had just finished walking in a July 4th parade when her assistant told her a central Illinois man had been arrested on suspicion of burning an American flag.
Rietz said she knew "immediately" that the Urbana Police Department needed to release Bryton Mellott, who posted a video of the act on Facebook and whom police initially said they arrested to protect from threats. The state law used to jail him, though clear in its prohibition of desecrating either the U.S. or state flags, is unconstitutional.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Most people who burn flags in protest, like those outside of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this month, 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."
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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/states-flag-burning-laws-unconstitutional-persist-41014377
