First Amendment lawyer and scholar Robert Corn-Revere, principle author of
Implementing a Flag Desecration Amendment to the U.S. Constitution a report released by the First Amendment Center, focuses on the history of flag desecration in the United States, and wonders whether the latest attempt by congress represents an end to the controversey...or a new beginning.

Two important Supreme Court decisions striking down flag-desecration laws as violations of the First Amendment — Texas v. Johnson in 1989 and United States v. Eichman in 1990 — set off an emotional national debate about whether to amend the U.S.Constitution. That debate continues today as one of the most polarized disputes in the nation’s history. Those proposing a constitutional amendment argue passionately about the need to restore the government’s ability to protect our unique national symbol. Opponents assert with equal force that doing so would elevate an emblem of freedom over its substance.

A must read for anyone who stands on either side of this issue, although especially relevant for the families of loved ones who have fought and died in support of the freedoms America represents, such as the right to dissent.