After the Supreme Court ruled last summer that laws banning flag desecration were unconstitutional infringements on freedom of expression, Congress rushed to appease indignant voters with a new Flag Protection Act. George Bush and many congressional Republicans insisted, however, that nothing less than a constitutional amendment could provide real protection for the colors. Last week a federal judge in Seattle proved them right.
In a case involving four protesters who set a flag afire in front of the Seattle Post Office, U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein found the Flag Protection Act invalid. Rothstein ruled, "Burning the flag as an expression of...