Describe how you understand the “Establishment Clause” and the related “Lemon Test”

The Establishment Clause is based upon the first amendment with Congress being prohibited from creating or promoting a state-sponsored religion. Most countries outside of the United States had already established a church or religion. If the United States had wanted to establish a single national religion, the diversity of religious beliefs would have already have prevented it as settlers came from different backgrounds. However, the establish clause today continues to tend to be interpreted a bit more broadly than in the past. The Lemon Test is related by having three criteria that must be satisfied for such a law or action to be found constitutional and that have to remain in effect. These three criteria are the action or law must not lead to excessive government entanglement with religion, the action or law cannot either inhibit or advance religious practice; it should be neutral in its effects on religion, the action or law must have some secular purpose; there must be some non-religious justification for the law.

Is burning the US flag protected by the First Amendment? Explain by referring to the relevant court case discussed in the reading.

The burning of the United States flag is protected by the First Amendment as it was a form of symbolic speech. As it is protected, they also found the law as applied to flag desecration to be unconstitutional. The court case Texas v. Johnson played a big role in this decision. With the Supreme Court making this decision, this was strictly criticized. Due to this overcome, Congress responded by passing the law of “The Flag Protection Act”. This was to overrule the decision however, it was also called towards unconstitutional.

What does it mean when someone says “I’m taking the Fifth”?

When an individual says “I’m taking the Fifth”, it means that they have the right not to give evidence in court or to law enforcement officers that might constitute an admission of guilt or responsibility for a crime. Even in a situation where it is a criminal trial, if someone does not testify in his or her own defense, the prosecution cannot use that failure to testify as evidence of guilt or imply that an innocent person would testify.