Posted by Eugene Volokh:
What the Framers Supposedly Thought of Symbolic Expression:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_05_10-2009_05_16.shtml#1242336969
[1]Sen. Grassley asserts, in support of the just-reintroduced
anti-flag-desecration constitutional amendment,
[I]f you read the debate in 1790 -- the First Amendment was not
written to protect nonverbal speech. It was to protect verbal
speech and, more importantly, political speech.
So you weren't put in jail when you talked against the government
as you were in England that the particular time. And so we want to
make sure that we get the Constitution back to its original intent
before the Supreme Court screwed it up.
Except that history seems to be against Senator Grassley on this; for
more, see my [2]Symbolic Expression and the Original Meaning of the
First Amendment, by coincidence just published at 97 Georgetown Law
Journal 1057 (2009).
References
1. http://grassley.senate.gov/news/Article.cfm?customel_dataPageID_1502=20638
2. http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/symbolic.pdf
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