Today in Supreme Court History: January 24, 1968

1/24/1968: United States v. O'Brien argued.

 

Comments

[F.D. Wolf]

I grew up in a rural area where it was customary for people customarily burned their trash, though this was eventually made illegal. This was a little after Texas v. Johnson (the 1989 flag-burning case), so my dad would joke that if the cops came around while we were burning trash, he would just throw an American flag on the fire. (Though O'Brien and its progeny would foreclose that as an effective defense strategy.)

[Dan Schiavetta]

Unlike Paul Cohen, who was an immature jerkoff, David O'Brien was a serious dissenter who knew his actions would probably land him in jail.