US Government: Civil Rights & Civil
Liberties Supreme Court Case Project
By: Meadow Noonan
Texas v. Johnson (1989)
• Argued: March 21, 1989
• Decided: June 21, 1989
Who’s involved?
• Gregory Lee Johnson
What’s the story?
• Gregory Lee Johnson burned an American flag as a means of protest against
Reagan administration policies
• Johnson was tried and convicted under Texas law outlawing flag discretion
• He was sentenced to one year in jail and assessed a $2,000 fine
• After the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction, the
case went to the Supreme Court.
Court Determined
• Court struck down laws prohibiting flag burning.
• The Court held that laws banning flag burning violated the First Amendment
right to freedom of speech.
Importance
• The Johnson v. Texas court case is so important because Johnson should not
be convicted of flag discretion because then the constitution would be
contradicting itself. Our first amendment rights grant us the freedom of
expression and with this, Johnson did not break any laws burning the flag.
Gonzales v. Oregon (2006)
• Who’s involved?
What’s the story?
• Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a Directive stating that a doctor
could lose his federal registration to prescribe controlled substances if
that registration is used to prescribe federally controlled substances for
assisted suicide.
Court Determined
• The Ninth Circuit declared that Ashcroft overstepped his authority in issuing
the directive
• The Justice Department petitioned the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to
reconsider its May decision.
• The Court refused a rehearing.
• The Justice Department petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case,
the court agreed to do so
Importance
• The importance of the Gonzales v. Oregon case is that the CSA did not
authorize Attorney General John Ashcroft to declare a medical practice
authorized under state law to be illegitimate. So now the CSA did not
authorize the attorney general to regulate physician-assisted suicide.