120 Chapter 4Chapter 4 || Civil LibertiesCivil Libertiesclaim that the troops’ deaths were God’s punishment for “the homosexual lifestyle
of soul-damning, nation-destroying filth.” The church and its members have drawn
strong reactions and counterprotests for their confrontational approach at the military
funerals, including their use of signs that say “God Hates Fags,” “Thank God for Dead
Soldiers,” “God Killed Your Sons,” and “God Hates America.” Critics, including many
veterans groups and attorneys general from 48 states, argue that the protests should not
be considered protected speech under the First Amendment. The Veterans of Foreign
Wars issued a statement saying: “In a time of profound grief and emotional vulnerability,
these personal attacks are an affront of the most egregious kind.” However, in 2011 the
Supreme Court ruled 8–1 that the WBC’s protests were protected speech.^49Symbolic Speech The use of signs, symbols, or other unspoken acts or methods
to communicate in a political manner—symbolic speech—enjoys many of the same
protections as regular speech. For example, during the Vietnam War the Court
protected the right of a war protester to wear an American flag patch sewn on the seat
of his pants,^50 high school students’ right to wear an armband to protest the war,^51 and
an individual’s right to tape a peace symbol on the flag and fly it upside down outside an
apartment window.^52 Lower courts had convicted these protesters under state laws that
protected the American flag or under a school policy that prohibited wearing armbands
to protest the Vietnam War. In the flag desecration case involving the peace symbol, the
Court stated that protected “speech” need not be verbal: “there can be little doubt that
appellant communicated through the use of symbols.”^53
A 1989 case provided the strongest protection for symbolic speech yet. The case
involved a man who burned a flag outside the 1984 Republican National Convention
in Texas, chanting along with other protesters, “America the red, white, and blue,
we spit on you. You stand for plunder, you will go under.” The Court refrained
from critiquing the jingle, but its 5–4 decision overturned the man’s conviction
under Texas’s flag desecration law on the grounds that symbolic political speech is
protected by the First Amendment.^54 In response to this unpopular decision, Congress
passed the Flag Protection Act of 1989, which the Court also struck down as an
unconstitutional infringement on political expression.^55 Congress then attempted to
pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the Court decision; the House passedsymbolic speech
Nonverbal expression, such as the
use of signs or symbols. It benefits
from many of the same constitutional
protections as verbal speech because
of its expressive value.63%
of black Americans and 31 percent
of white Americans view the
Confederate battle flag primarily as
a symbol of racism.
Source: The Economist/YouGov pollDID YOU KNOW?
The American flag is a popular target
for protesters: it has been spat upon,
shredded, turned into underwear,
and burned. Here, protesters burn
a U.S. flag as they march through
downtown Washington, D.C., following
the Ferguson, Missouri, grand jury’s
decision not to indict Officer Darren
Wilson for the shooting death of
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