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School
Florida Homeschooling *
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Course
101
Subject
Political Science
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
rtf
Pages
2
Uploaded by PresidentJackalMaster674
FREE-RESPONSE QUESTION OPTION 1
Congress passed a Flag Protection Act in 1968. This was a reaction to protests against U.S.
involvement in the Vietnam War where protestors burned the American flag. Most U.S. states
have similar laws. However, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled these laws as
unconstitutional in the 1989 case of Texas v. Johnson. The Court ruled that flag burning was a
form of free speech protected by the First Amendment. A later federal Flag Protection Act faced
the same fate in another Supreme Court decision.
Members of Congress who disagree with these rulings have determined that the best way to
protect the U.S. flag as a national symbol is to pass a constitutional amendment. The “Flag
Desecration Amendment” has been proposed in Congress multiple times but has yet to succeed.
The purpose of the amendment idea is to give Congress the power to make desecration of the
U.S. flag a criminal offense. Thus, the amendment would not itself make flag desecration illegal
but rather grant the power to Congress to do so and to define what actions would qualify as
“desecration.”
After closely reading the scenario, respond to the following in complete sentences:
A. Referring to the scenario in your response, describe how the principle of separation of powers
or checks and balances relates to this effort to amend the Constitution.
The system of
checks and balanaces was established to prevent the branches of the government from
abusing their power. For example the judicial branch can use their ability of checks and
balances on the executive branch to declare an exceutive order unconsitutional while the
executive branch can veto acts of Congress. In the scenerio given, the Supreme Court-the
judicial branch- used the system of checks and balances over the Congress-the legislative
branch-to declare the Flag Protection Act of 1968 unconsititional.
B. Referring to the scenario in your response, explain how the principle from part A is addressed
in Federalist No. 51.
As seen in Madison's Federalist No. 51, the principle of checks and balances was
designed to prevent abuses of power in the three branches of the government and to limit the
power that each branch held. As seen in the scenario, the principle of checks and balances
would prevent Congress from declaring flag desecration illegal and granting the Congress the
power to deem what is considered illegal--something that could be used to abuse authority--
by the principle of checks and balances which would allow the judicial branch to block the law.
C. Referring to the scenario in your response, explain how the Supreme Court's power of judicial
review could affect how this amendment would be applied going forward if it were ratified.
Based on the jucicial branch's power of judicial review granted in 1830, the Supreme
Court can declare a law passed in legilstaive as unconsitituional. If the 'Flag Desecration
Amendment' was ratified, the Supreme Court could use judicial review to determine if it is
constitutional or not, preventing the law from being enacted, similar to how the Supreme
Court previously deemed the 'Flag Protection Act' as unconsitiional o the basis of the first
amendemtn.
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