ABSTRACT
The case began at the 1984 Republican gathering in Dallas, Texas. Gregory Lee Johnson and a number of other protesters staged a series of demonstrations and "die-ins" to protest policies of President Ronald Reagan's administration on nuclear arms and Central America. Texas v. Johnson, 491 US 397, was the controversial US Supreme Court decision that overturned on free speech grounds the conviction of an outspoken political activist and self-styled Communist who had burned an American flag as part of a protest at the 1984 Republican National Convention. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed Johnson's conviction by a five-four decision. Public and political reaction to the decision was vitriolic and emotional. The Supreme Court reaffirmed the decision in United States v. Eichman, 496 US 310, when it struck down the 1989 Flag Protection Act that the US Congress had adopted in reaction to the Texas v. Johnson decision.
