SPENCE VS. WASHINGTON
Published on Dec 03, 2015
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
In Seattle a college student, Spence was persecuted for publicly displaying an American flag that was upside down and had peace symbols attached to the sides.
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Police officers saw the flag and entered the apartment, with Spence's permission. The flag was seized and Spence was arrested.
He was later charged under a law that banned "improper use" of the American flag.
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Spence was convicted and was fined seventy five dollars and sentenced to ten days in jail.
The Washington Court of Appeals reversed this, declaring that the law overbroad. The Washington Supreme Court reinstated the conviction and Spence appealed to the Supreme Court.
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The State had an interest in preserving the flag as “an unalloyed symbol of our country” and states in their decision: "A person gets from a symbol the meaning he puts into it, and what is one man’s comfort and inspiration is another’s jest and scorn."
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The Supreme Court said the Washington law “impermissibly infringed a form of protected expression.” Several factors were cited: the flag was private property, it was displayed on private property, the display did not risk any breach of peace, and even the state admitted that Spence was “engaged in a form of communication.”
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The Washington law was still viewed to be unconstitutional as Spence was using the flag to express ideas which people would be able to understand. There was no risk that viewers would believe that the government was endorsing Spence’s message. The flag itself carries so many meanings that the state could not write it off as the being used to “express certain political views.”
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