[ti:Is Burning the American Flag Legal?] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]The United States constitution guarantees a number of rights to U.S. citizens. [00:06.28]One of the most famous is the right to free speech. [00:10.48]But what if people say or do horrible things? [00:14.92]The Supreme Court struggled with this idea in 1989. [00:19.44]The case related to a man named Gregory Lee Johnson. [00:23.68]A few years earlier, he strongly objected to the policies of then-President Ronald Reagan. [00:30.80]So, at a political meeting in Texas, [00:33.64]Johnson burned the American flag. [00:37.32]Police arrested him. [00:39.44]Johnson appealed, saying that burning the flag [00:43.12]was his way of expressing his political beliefs [00:47.12]– exactly the kind of speech the writers of the U.S. Constitution aimed to protect. [00:54.00]Opponents disagreed. [00:56.20]They pointed out that the American flag was special, [00:59.80]and they did not think burning it was "speech." [01:03.40]They warned that such an act could move people to violence. [01:08.44]But a majority of the Court's justices agreed with Johnson. [01:13.08]They said even if the public strongly dislikes an idea, [01:18.64]people still have a right to express it. [01:22.24]One final note: Supreme Court cases have not protected all speech. [01:28.08]Other cases have limited people's right to communicate ideas [01:32.26]that are knowingly false, morally offensive, stolen or threatening. [01:37.93]But for now – unless the public approves Constitutional amendment [01:43.28]– burning the American flag is legal. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM