Unit 1 Assignment

Lace Jenkins

Unit 1 Assignment

1. The case study references one state statute. Identify it and explain what it prohibits.

Desecration of a venerable object. This prohibits the burning of the flag.

2. Which branch of government (executive, judicial, or legislative) created the state statute?

The legislative branch, the Senate and House of Representatives, of government created the state statute.

3. The passage above also discusses one court case. Who were the parties involved in the case?

The parties involved in the case are Gregory Johnson and The State of Texas.

4. The case was heard by three lower courts before it reached the United States Supreme Court. List those three courts in order, beginning with the court that has the most authority and ending with the court that has the least amount of authority.

Most Authority: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Middle Authority: Texas Court of Appeals, Fifth District

Least Authority: Dallas County Criminal Court

5. Provide the citation for the United States Supreme Court’s decision in this case.

Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989).

6. What effect did the United States Supreme Court’s decision have on the Texas statute?

The court ruled that the Texas Statute was inconstant with the First Amendment and therefore the statute was struck down.

7. Write 1-2 paragraphs explaining the difference between case law (like the court cases above) and statutory law (like the state statute above). Focus your discussion on how case law and statutes are created, the weight of their authority, and how they can be amended or changed.

The difference between case law and statutory law as explained in the case study. The case law in the case study is desecration of a venerable object which prohibits the burning of the flag. This is a law against the First amendment under the First amendment is freedom of speech. The courts in this case study decided that the case law was not working with the statutory...