Court Opinion

ID: 9425824
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:15:54.334965+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:57.772187
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Douglas,
concurring.
I would reverse the judgment for substantially the same reasons given by the Iowa Supreme Court in State v. Kool, 212 N. W. 2d 518. In that case the de*416fendant hung a peace symbol made of cardboard and wrapped in tinfoil in the window of his home and hung a replica of the United States flag behind the peace symbol but in an upside-down position. The state statute made it a crime to “cast contempt upon, satirize, deride or burlesque [the] flag,” Iowa Code § 32.1.
The court held that defendant’s conduct constituted “symbolic speech.” The court, in reversing the conviction, said:
“Someone in Newton might be so intemperate as to disrupt the peace because of this display. But if absolute assurance of tranquility is required, we may as well forget about free speech. Under such a requirement, the only 'free’ speech would consist of platitudes. That kind of speech does not need constitutional protection.” 212 N. W. 2d, at 521.
That view is precisely my own. Hence I concur in reversing this judgment of conviction.