United States v. Shawn D. Eichman, David Gerald Blalock and Scott W. Tyler

Decided June 11, 1990. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 89-1433 · 496 U.S. 310 (1990) · Cited 216 times

Holding

Appellees' prosecution for burning a flag in violation of the Act is inconsistent with the First Amendment.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 5–4.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Texas v. Johnson · 491 U.S. 397 (1989)
• United States v. O'Brien · 391 U.S. 367 (1968)
• Boos v. Barry · 485 U.S. 312 (1988)
• Spence v. Washington · 418 U.S. 405 (1974)
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Cohen v. California · 403 U.S. 15 (1971)
• Terminiello v. Chicago · 337 U.S. 1 (1949)
• Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell · 485 U.S. 46 (1988)
• Halter v. Nebraska · 205 U.S. 34 (1907)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Reed v. Town of Gilbert · 576 U.S. 155 (2015)
• Iancu v. Brunetti · 588 U.S. 388 (2019)
• Hill v. Colorado · 530 U.S. 703 (2000)
• United States v. Kokinda · 497 U.S. 720 (1990)
• TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez · 594 U.S. 413 (2021)
• R. A. v. v. City of St. Paul · 505 U.S. 377 (1992)
• Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 512 U.S. 622 (1994)
• McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission · 514 U.S. 334 (1995)
• Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc. · 501 U.S. 560 (1991)
• McConnell v. Federal Election Commission · 540 U.S. 93 (2003)
• Simon & Schuster, Inc. v. Members of the New York State Crime Victims Board · 502 U.S. 105 (1991)
• National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley · 524 U.S. 569 (1998)
• Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC · 528 U.S. 377 (2000)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

William Joseph Brennan Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1990). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).