Law Commons^™

The American flag is an important rhetorical resource for U.S. citizens performing civic identity and is at the center of legal battles to protect it from debasement. The debate is frequently renewed, most recently by protesters standing on the flag to protest police violence against African Americans. The flag-protection policy most commonly proposed is a constitutional amendment that would stand as a unique exception to the First Amendment's protection of free expression. Explorations of the flag in the humanities and social sciences have focused on big theory: the flag as an excuse for moral panic or as totemic emblem of …