Creating the United States

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“Ever read the Bill of Rights, Zonker?”

"Ever read the Bill of Rights, Zonker?" (123.03.00)

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Comic strip character Mike Doonesbury discusses the Bill of Rights and the proposed flag burning amendment with Zonker Harris in this Garry Trudeau (b. 1948) installment of Doonesbury. The characters in this strip talk at length about freedom of speech and what should be the limits on desecration of the American flag. In 1989, the Supreme Court struck down flag desecration laws in forty-eight states by ruling that flag desecration is protected speech under the First Amendment.