is it illegal to stand on a flag
Flag desecration The flag of the United States is sometimes burned in protest of the policies of the American government, both within the country and abroad. The United States Supreme Court in Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989), and reaffirmed in U.S. v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 (1990), has ruled that due to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, it is unconstitutional for a government (whether federal, state, or municipality) to prohibit the desecration of a flag, due to its status as "symbolic speech." However, content-neutral restrictions may still be imposed to regulate the time, place, and manner of such expression. And if the flag that was burned was someone else's property (as it was in the Johnson case, as Johnson had stolen the flag from a Texas bank's flagpole), they could be charged with petty larceny (a flag usually sells at retail for less than USDÂ 20), or with destruction of private property, or possibly both.
Flag of the United States At the time of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the Continental Congress would not legally adopt flags with "stars, white in a blue field" for another year. The flag contemporaneously known as "the Continental Colors" has historically been referred to as the first national flag.[5]