1967, December 04: Daniel Jay Schacht participated in a skit outside a military recruitment center as part of a protest against the American government's actions in Vietnam. Schacht was charged and convicted under a federal law banning use of military uniforms outside theatrical productions and even in theatrical productions "if the portrayal does not tend to discredit" the military. Schacht took the case to the Supreme Court.
1968, February 29: Daniel Jay Schacht was convicted by a jury, fined $250, and sentenced to six months in prison. His crime? He participated in a skit outside a military recruitment center as part of a protest against the American government's actions in Vietnam. According to the government, this violated a federal law banning use of military uniforms outside theatrical productions and even in theatrical productions "if the portrayal does not tend to discredit" the military. Schacht took the case to the Supreme Court.
1968, October 21: The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Street v New York. Street had been charged and convicted under a New York law making it a crime to publicly mutilate or "publicly defy . . . or cast contempt upon [any American flag] either by words or act."
1969, April 21: The Supreme Court ruled in the case of Street v New York that the state offered no good reasons for why Street's words could be sufficient to convict him of a crime. In particular, Justice Harlan found that the state could not suppress speech in order to protect "the sensibilities of passers-by who might be shocked by appellant's words about the American flag" or to force Street "regardless of the impact of his words upon others, [to show] proper respect for our national emblem." Therefore, the prohibition on "words" that "publicly defy" or "cast contempt" on the American flag was found unconstitutional.
1970, January 30: In Leominster, Massachusetts, two police officers spotted a teenager wearing a small American flag on the seat of his pants. The officers would later swear out a complaint against Goguen for violating at state law against treating the flag "contemptuously." Goguen would be convicted, but his appeals went all the way to the Supreme Court.
1970, March 31: The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Schacht v United States. Can the government prevent people from using particular symbols or images only when they are used to bring "disrespect" to some part of the government? This decision would have implications for laws which banned only disrespectful uses of the American flag.
1970, May 10: In Seattle, Washington, a college student named Spence hung outside the window of his private apartment an American flag — but he hung it upside down and had attached a peace symbol created from black tape. According to Spence, he did this to protest various acts taken by the American government, including the invasion of Cambodia and the fatal shootings of college students at Kent State University. Spence said that his changes to the flag were designed to associate it more closely with peace than war. Spence was prosecuted and convicted, but he took his case all the way to the Supreme Court.
1970, May 25: The Supreme Court ruled in the case of Schacht v United States that actors could wear military uniforms in theatrical productions even if those productions could be found to "discredit" the armed forces in some manner. According to the Supreme Court, if the government authorized use of uniforms in ways that communicated an approved message, it couldn't also discriminate against messages which it didn't like. If this is true, then how can the government authorize use of the American flag to send patriotic messages, but ban "desecration" of the same flag because it sends a disrespectful message?
1973, November 12: The Supreme Court heard the first of two days of oral arguments in the case of Smith v Goguen. Can the government criminalize "misuse" of the American flag, acts which treat the flag "contemptuously?" In Smith v Goguen, the Supreme Court had to decide whether a Massachusetts teenager could be convicted for wearing a patch of the American flag on the seat of his pants.
1974, January 09: The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Spence v Washington. Should the government be able to prevent people from attaching symbols, words, or pictures to American flags in public?
1974, March 25: The Supreme Court ruled in the case of Smith v Goguen. According to the Court, the Massachusetts law against misusing the American flag in a way that treats it "contemptuously" was unconstitutionally vague.
1974, June 25: The Supreme Court ruled in Spence v Washington, a case where a college student was prosecuted for publicly displaying an American flag to which he had attached a large peace symbol. The Court found that Spence had a constitutional right to use the American flag to communicate his intended message, even if the government disagreed with him.
