The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision in favor of Johnson. The high court agreed that symbolic speech – no matter how offensive to some – is protected under the First Amendment.

Johnson effectively struck down flag-burning bans that were in place in 48 states, including Texas. In response to this case, Congress passed the Flag Protection Act in 1989, which was a federal law banning the desecration of the flag. Once again, Johnson decided to protest this law.

The United States Supreme Court in Texas v. Johnson claimed that the man’s expression of burning the flag is protected and legal according to the United States Constitution. Johnson won the case because of the rights and liberties granted by the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989), the Supreme Court struck down on First Amendment grounds a Texas flag desecration law. The 5-4 decision has served as the center point of a continuing debate regarding the value of free speech as exercised through the burning of the U.S. flag as a form of political protest.

(5-4) The majority of the Court, according to Justice William Brennan, agreed with Johnson and held that flag burning constitutes a form of “symbolic speech” that is protected by the First Amendment.

As the oft-repeated story goes, because Texas was once an independent nation, it is the only state that can fly its flag at the same height as the U.S. flag.