Court Opinion

ID: 9676245
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:19:07.327678+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:46.280914
License: Public Domain

CLARIE, District Judge
(dissenting):
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion. I find the Connecticut statute, § 53-255, to be constitutional as did the three-judge State Circuit Court of Appeals in its unanimous decision in State v. Van Camp, 6 Conn.Cir. 609, 281 A.2d 584 (1971) on which appellate certification was denied by the Connecticut Supreme Court. This position is sustained by Sutherland v. DeWulf, 323 F. Supp. 740 (S.D.Ill.N.D.1971) (the burning of the flag); Cowgill v. California, 396 U.S. 371, 90 S.Ct. 613, 24 L.Ed.2d 590 (1970) (the wearing of a vest fashioned from a cut up flag); Hoffman v. United States, 256 A.2d 567 (D.C.App. 1969) (wearing a shirt resembling the flag); and State of Iowa v. Waterman, Sup.Ct. of Iowa, filed Oct. 13, 1971, 190 N.W.2d 809 (wearing a slit flag as a “poncho”); see also, People v. Radich, 26 N.Y.2d 114, 308 N.Y.S.2d 846, 257 N. E.2d 30 (1970) aff’d per curiam by an equally divided court, 401 U.S. 531, 91 S.Ct. 1217, 28 L.Ed.2d 287 (1971).1
The Connecticut legislature by its passage of this law sought to protect and safeguard two “substantial governmental interest (s),” the prevention of breaches of the public peace and the maintenance of the integrity of this nation’s symbol of sovereignty, its people and the heritage of ideals which they cherish. These interests are unrelated to the suppression of free expression and the incidental restriction on alleged first amendment freedoms is no greater than is essential to the furtherance of these legitimate governmental interests. See, United States v. O’Brien, 391 U.S. 367, 377, 88 S.Ct. 1673, 20 L.Ed.2d 672 (1968).
The Connecticut law does not compel or restrain conduct contrary to personal beliefs, nor does it otherwise interfere with the right to a free and uninhibited *1213verbal expression of ideas. It has long been determined in West Virginia State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 63 S.Ct. 1178, 87 L.Ed. 1628 (1943), that any attempt at statutory coercion to compel the declaration or acceptance of a belief or idea is contrary to the constitutional guarantees established and protected under the first amendment. This statute does no violence to that basic precept. A proper application of § 53-255 is limited to physical acts against the flag so as to defile, cast contempt, or make a mockery of it. It in no way limits the use of defiant or contemptuous spoken words directed toward the flag, nor does it deny or restrain the right to a free and open public criticism of the principles for which the flag stands.
The Supreme Court in Street v. New York, 394 U.S. 576, 594, 89 S.Ct. 1354, 22 L.Ed.2d 572 (1969), declined to reach the question of whether or not a state could punish an individual, for publicly and deliberately desecrating the flag, as a means of dramatizing one’s dissatisfaction and as a protest against social conditions within our Country. However, the four Justices who dissented did comment on that issue and indicated that such acts could constitutionally be punished. Chief Justice Warren, writing for the majority in United States v. O’Brien, supra at 376, 88 S.Ct. at 1678, said with great persuasion:
“We cannot accept the view that an apparently limitless variety of conduct can be labeled ‘speech’ whenever the person engaging in the conduct intends thereby to express an idea.”
If the law were otherwise, it would be an open invitation to those disrupters, who in the name of advocacy, would throw brickbats onto the judicial bench through the courthouse window and thereafter argue that such conduct should be tolerated, because it was intended only as symbolic speech, designed to colorfully and forcefully depict their contemptuous regard toward a specific judicial decision or the entire judicial process.2
The majority suggests that this case must be controlled by the decision of this Circuit in Long Island Vietnam Moratorium Committee v. Cahn, 437 F.2d 344 (2d Cir. 1970). It was held there, that the statute under which the contemplated prosecution would have been initiated was overbroad and hence violative of the first amendment, because it proscribed symbolic expression “in the absence of any valid state interest.” (supra at 349). However, the New York case can be distinguished from the present one. The New York statute carried a much broader definition of what constituted a “flag;3” whereas the Con*1214neeticut statute is narrowly drawn to comport with valid state interests. It defines “flag” to include:
“(A)ny flag, standard, color or ensign of the United States or the state flag of this state or any ensign evidently purporting to be either of such flags, standards, colors or ensigns * * * »
The overall definition, while somewhat redundant, clearly indicates that § 53-255 is aimed only at actual American and state flags and those flags or ensigns which obviously purport to be such. To read this statute, as authorizing the proscription of the type of symbol which concerned the court in Long Island Vietnam, would “do violence to its plain language.” (supra at 348).
The statutory definition of “flag,” in § 53-255, is consistent with the underlying purpose of the law. The average citizen, who would be provoked to violent reaction with its resulting breach of the peace, because of the misuse of the American flag, would in all probability react in an identical manner to the misuse of a banner or flag, which although purporting to be a “real” American flag might fail in some technicality to conform. Since the state may constitutionally require its citizens to respect the physical integrity of the American flag, it may also reasonably regulate its use, so as to insure that its integrity will not be effectively emasculated through the utilization of facsimiles.
The Second Circuit has said, “many types of flag usage and flag alteration * * * are a * * * means of nonverbal political communication,” (437 F. 2d at 349) and as such are forms of “symbolic speech.” But “(T)he First Amendment does not license individuals to speak ‘whenever and however and wherever, they please.’ Adderley v. Florida, 385 U.S. 39, 48, 87 S.Ct. 242, 247, 17 L.Ed.2d 149.” Sutherland v. DeWulf, 323 F.Supp. 740, 743 (S.D.Ill.N.D.1971). In United States v. O’Brien, supra, 391 U.S. at 376, 88 S.Ct. at 1678, the Supreme Court held:
“'(W)hen ‘speech’ and ‘nonspeech’ elements are combined in the same course of conduct, a sufficiently important governmental interest in regulating the nonspeech element can justify incidental limitations on First Amendment freedoms.”
At page 377, 88 S.Ct. at page 1679, it spoke further:
“(A) government regulation is sufficiently justified if it is within the constitutional power of the Government; if it furthers an important or substantial governmental interests; if the governmental interest is unrelated to the suppression of free expression; and if the incidental restriction on alleged First Amendment freedoms is no greater than is essential to the furtherance of that interest.”
The state interests sought to be advanced by the Connecticut flag misuse statute satisfy this test.
The statute first seeks to prevent outbreaks of violence and breaches of the peace provoked by the physical disparagement of the flag. As the Supreme Court said in Halter v. Nebraska,
“(I)t has often occurred that insults to a flag have been the cause of war, and indignities put upon it, in the presence of those who revere it, have often been resented and sometimes punished on the spot.” 205 U.S. 34, 41, 27 S.Ct. 419, 421, 51 L.Ed. 696 (1907).
In a similar vein, a three judge constitutional court recently observed:
“One has only to read the newspaper in the recent past to know that the public mutilation of the flag is an act which is likely to elicit a violent re- . sponse from many who observe such acts.” Sutherland v. DeWulf, 323 F. Supp. at 745.
It can hardly be doubted that such an interest is substantial and within the constitutional power of the Government. Cf. Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568, 62 S.Ct. 766, 86 L.Ed. 1031 (1942).
Clearly the second phase of the Connecticut statute, which proscribes the *1215mutilation, defacement, and defilement of the flag, is intended to avoid just such breaches of the peace by foreclosing flagrantly provocative conduct. So also that phase of the statute which forbids the placing or appending of any word, picture, or design upon the flag should be construed to proscribe provocative conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace. A limitless number of other mediums of public expression exist to disseminate ideas on public issues. Whether it is by signs, placards, images, effigies, designs, words, or otherwise, all are essentially free and available to one who would have his ideas heard, seen and disseminated.
Inextricably related to the breach of the peace basis for the Connecticut flag misuse statute is the great respect that Americans, with almost complete unanimity, respect and honor the national emblem. Flag misuse is very likely to provoke violence precisely because many citizens regard such conduct as “fighting words.” Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. at 572, 62 S.Ct. 766, 86 L.Ed. 1031. This respect itself indicates the importance of the state interest in preserving the physical integrity of the national flag.
As Justice Fortas so aptly stated in his dissent in Street v. New York, supra, 394 U.S. at 616, 89 S.Ct. at 1378:
“(T)he flag is a special kind of personalty. Its use is traditionally and universally subject to special rules and regulations. As early as 1907, this Court affirmed the constitutionality of a state statute making it a crime to use a representation of the United States flag for purposes of advertising. Halter v. Nebraska, 205 U.S. 34 [27 S.Ct. 419, 51 L.Ed. 696] (1907). Statutes proscribe how the flag may be displayed; how it may lawfully be disposed of; when, how, and for what purposes it may and may not be used. See, e. g., 4 U.S.C. § 3; 56 Stat. 377, c. 435, 36 U.S.C. §§ 172-177. A person may ‘own’ a flag, but ownership is subject to special burdens and responsibilities. A flag may be property, in a sense; but it is property burdened with peculiar obligations and restrictions. Certainly, as Halter v. Nebraska, supra, held, these special conditions are not per se arbitrary or beyond governmental power under our Constitution.”
Legal principles, which for almost two hundred years have aided in sustaining universal civilian respect for our nation’s flag, should not now be eroded under the mistaken guise of protected symbolic speech.
COMITY
Because the Court’s assumption of jurisdiction here is incompatible with the decisions of the Supreme Court in Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S. Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971) and Samuels v. Mackell, 401 U.S. 66, 91 S.Ct. 764, 27 L.Ed.2d 688 (1971), I also dissent on the issue of jurisdiction.
During this litigation,4 there was an appeal pending by a different litigant in the Connecticut Supreme Court by reason of a conviction under the same Connecticut flag desecration statute. The latter appeal raised the same first amendment arguments as were presented by plaintiffs here. While this parallel state litigation did not involve the same parties, it is submitted that the rationale of Younger is nonetheless dispositive. A declaratory judgment by this Court to the effect that the Connecticut statute unconstitutionally infringes upon first amendment freedoms, effectively “stops” the orderly adjudication of these very *1216same claims in the pending state appellate proceeding.5
The “vital consideration” of comity, Younger, 401 U.S. at 44, 91 S.Ct. 764, 27 L.Ed.2d 688, is emasculated in this decision where a federal court, with no showing of the kind of “great and immediate” irreparable injury enunciated by the Supreme Court in Younger decides the very issue being litigated, at the time of the argument of this suit, in the State Supreme Court. Absent a showing of irreparable injury, it is submitted that a balance between the comity considerations articulated by the Supreme Court in Younger and the notion that this particular plaintiff should be entitled to be heard in a judicial forum without subjecting himself to criminal liability in order to do so, must be struck here in favor of allowing the state appellate court .to adjudicate the pending constitutional issues free from federal court interference. The statute has a valid public purpose. I would find the law constitutional as written.

. See also the following cases concerning flag desecration statutes: Parker v. Morgan, 322 F.Supp. 585 (W.D.N.C. 1970) ; Crosson v. Silver, 319 F.Supp. 1084 (D.Arizona 1970) ; Hodsdon v. Buckson, 310 F.Supp. 528 (D.Del.1970) ; United States v. Ferguson, 302 F.Supp. 1111 (N.D.Calif.1969).

. The argument might be made that communication of a particular political viewpoint is most dramatically effected by flag mutilation. But this is not sufficient to counter valid state interests. See United States v. Miller, 367 F.2d 72, 81-82 (2d Cir. 1966). Cf. Kovacs v. Cooper, 336 U.S. 77, 69 S.Ct. 443, 93 L.Ed. 513 (1949). The Connecticut statute certainly does not have “the effect of entirely preventing a ‘speaker’ from reaching a significant audience with whom he could not otherwise lawfully communicate.” 391 U.S. at 388-389, 88 S.Ct. at 1685, 20 L.Ed.2d 672 (Harlan, J., concurring). The plaintiffs here can convey their messages in many ways other than wearing the flag as a vest.

. The New York statute defines “flag” to include:
“(A)ny flag, standard, color, shield or ensign, or any picture or representation, of either thereof, made of any substance, or represented on any substance, and of any size, evidently purporting to be, either of, said flag, standard, color, shield or ensign, of the United States of America, or of the state of New York, or a picture or a representation of either thereof, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars, and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or by which the person seeing the same, without deliberation may believe the same to represent tlie flag, colors, standard, shield or ensign of the United States of America or of the state of New York.” § 136(a) of the General Business Law of Now York, McKinney’s Consol.Laws, c. 20.

. Prior to this Court’s handing clown of opinions in this case but well after the evidentiary hearing of April 19, 1971, the Connecticut Supreme Court decided to deny a petition for certification from an intermediate appellate court which held the Connecticut flag statute constitutional. State v. Van Camp, cert, to Conn.Sup.Ct. denied, Aug. 18, 1971, 280 A.2d 536.

. Samuels v. Mackell determined that the “practical effect” of a declaratory judgment is ordinarily “virtually identical” to that of an injunction. (401 U.S. at 73, 91 S.Ct. 764, 27 L.Ed.2d 688).