On July 8, the Deseret News published an article “First Amendment rights questioned in flag abuse incident,” that quoted Emily Chiang, an assistant professor of law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law.
The article focused on a recent incident during Cache Valley’s Independence Day parade. Several marchers wrote “Children of Debt, Inheritors of War” on a United States flag, mounted it upside-down and carried it along the parade route. They were asked to leave town by sheriff’s deputes, who told the newspaper they were trying to maintain the peace and prevent fights from breaking out.
One of the protestors said that he was cited for desecrating the flag and told that charges would follow. In the article, Chiang agreed with another quoted source that the protestor’s conduct was constitutionally protected free speech: “If what the prosecutors are trying to punish is expression, (the defendants) are going to be OK,” she said.
To read the Deseret News article, click here.