Several notable instances of burning the American flag have occurred. Gregory Lee Johnson burned an American flag outside the convention center. He burned the flag to protest the policies of President Ronald Reagan. He was arrested and charged with violating a Texas law that prohibits vandalizing respected objects.

Johnson was convicted, sentenced to one year in prison, and fined $2,000. He appealed his conviction to the Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas, but he lost this appeal. On appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the Court overturned his conviction, saying that the State could not punish Johnson for burning the flag because the First Amendment protects such activity as symbolic speech. 

The majority of the Court noted that freedom of speech protects actions that society may find very offensive, but society's outrage alone is not justification for suppressing free speech. Writing for the dissent, Justice Stevens argued that the flag's unique status as a symbol of national unity outweighed "symbolic speech" concerns, and thus, the government could lawfully prohibit flag burning.

The Court has recognized that the #FirstAmendment protects certain forms of symbolic speech. Flag burning is such a form of symbolic speech. When a flag is privately owned, the owner should be able to burn it if the owner chooses, especially if this action is meant in the form of protest. So long as the public or the property of others is not destroyed in the process, the government cannot prohibit this action without violating free speech rights. 

As per the landmark Supreme Court case Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989), flag burning symbolic speech should not be prohibited as an exception for the First Amendment's free speech protections. The First Amendment does not recognize an exception for prohibitions on burning the flag. When the defendant burned the flag in this case, he was making a political statement, i.e., he did not agree with the policies of the government. Moreover, as ironic as it sounds, by being able to burn the flag, the defendant is actually honoring the values the flag is meant to protect.