Smith v. Goguen

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Smith v. Goguen
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 12–13, 1973 Decided March 25, 1974
Full case name	Smith v. Goguen
Citations	415 U.S. 566 (more) 94 S. Ct. 1242; 39 L. Ed. 2d 605; 1974 U.S. LEXIS 113
Case history
Prior	Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Holding
Flag desecration laws that prohibit "contemptuous" treatment of the flag are overly broad.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William O. Douglas · William J. Brennan Jr. Potter Stewart · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist
Case opinions
Majority	Powell, joined by Douglas, Brennan, Stewart, Marshall
Concurrence	White
Dissent	Blackmun, joined by Burger
Dissent	Rehnquist, joined by Burger
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amends. I, XIV

Smith v. Goguen, 415 U.S. 566 (1974), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that flag desecration laws that prohibit "contemptuous" treatment of the flag are overly broad.