1. The “Establishment Clause” and the related “Lemon Test” were used to explain religious freedom. Religious freedom has two parts. First of which is to protect people from the religious beliefs imposed on them by the government, similar to separation of church and statue. Secondly, the other is to safeguard citizens from the government imposing restrictions their religious practices. In relation to “Establishment Clause,’ which means that the government prohibits the formation or furtherance of the religion it is supporting. Lastly, the ‘Lemon Test’ strives to make certain laws and/or behaviors supported in reference to the constitution. 
2. The First Amendment does protect the flag from being damaged and treated with disrespect. At least in theory. However, according to the court case, it is stated “burning the flag was a form of symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment and found the law, as applied to flag desecration, to be unconstitutional.” The Court Case “Texas v. Johnson” The Supreme Court were in agreement that burning the flag is a form speech. Although physically burning the flag is not supported in the amendment rights, freedoms of speech is. Therefore, burning the flag cannot be outlawed. 
3. A personal saying ‘I’m taking the Fifth,’ means they are chose exercise their right to stay silent. This move is typically used to avoid saying any statements to build a case against them. This decision is protected by the fifth amendment.  

1.Establishment Clause is part of the First Amendment. It actually protects two related freedoms: one is to protect people from the religious beliefs imposed on them by the government, and the other is to protect people from government authorities restricting their religious beliefs. , The first of these two freedoms is called the establishment clause. Congress is prohibited from creating or promoting state-supported religions. The related “Lemon Test” is used to determine whether laws or other government actions that may promote specific religious practices should be allowed. The “lemon test” has three standards: 1. The behavior or law must not cause excessive entanglement between the government and religion; 2. The action or law cannot either inhibit or advance religious practice; it should be neutral in its effects on religion. 3. The action or law must have some secular purpose; there must be some non-religious justification for the law.

2.Burning the American flag is protected by the First Amendment, because this behavior is also freedom of speech, and the U.S. Congress must not enact laws restricting citizens’ freedom of speech. Reading 9.1 wrote, “in 1989, the Supreme Court decided in Texas v. Johnson that burning the flag was a form of symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment and found the law, as applied to flag desecration, to be unconstitutional. This court decision was strongly criticized, and Congress responded by passing a federal law, the Flag Protection Act, intended to overrule it; the act, too, was struck down as unconstitutional in 1990.”

3.When someone says “I’m taking the Fifth,” people have the right not to provide evidence that may constitute a confession or criminal responsibility to the court or law enforcement officials. In addition, in a criminal trial, if someone does not testify for their defense, the prosecution cannot use failure to testify as evidence of guilt or imply that an innocent person will testify.

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

The establishment clause is a clause in a constitution that forbids Congress from inaugurating a state religion. The law blocks any from being passed against granting preferences to a particular religion. The lemon test remains a test used to determine the state actions that prohibit the Establishment clause of the Constitution First amendment. Besides, is it also a technique for ruling whether the state attempts t violate the liberty of expression of religion?

2-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 flag is protected by the First Amendment and comprises a symbolic speech. An American flag in 1984 was burned where the “Republican National Convention” was occurring by Gregory Lee Johnson. Johnson was protesting the policies of Ronal Reagan, the president. After Johnson was arrested and charged, he appealed the case demonstrating that his action was a symbolic speech.  Justice William stated that flag burning was a kind of symbolic speech and protected by the First Amendment.

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

Am taking a fifth means that a person has refused to testify against oneself according to rights definite by the Fifth Amendment.

1. The Lemon test is a three-part test that the Supreme Court uses to determine whether a law violates the establishment clause of the first amendment which says that congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise. The three parts of the Lemon test are that law must have a secular purpose, the law’s principal or primary purpose can neither advance nor inhibit religion and the government may not be excessively entangled in religion. 

2. According to the reading, burning the US flag was constitutes a form of “symbolic speech” that is protected by the First Amendment. This is supported by a precedent Supreme Court case Texas v. Johnson.  The majority 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. In particular, the majority noted that the Texas law discriminated against viewpoint although the law punished actions, such as flag burning, that might arouse anger in others, it specifically exempted from prosecution actions that were respectful of venerated objects burning and burying a worn-out flag. The majority said that the government could not discriminate in this manner based solely upon viewpoint.

3. “Taking the fifth” refers to  The Fifth Amendment to the constitution of the USA regarding private property states that no one should be deprived of property without due process of law; Nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.” This amendment provided exclusive economic rights to the private property owner. In case the government acquired the property for military bases, and so forth, courts must estimate the fair value of the property to be paid to the owners.

LiLiu

Professor Arto Artinian

POL100 (0502): Discussion Board 9.1

June 16, 2021

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

The “Establishment Clause” and the related “Lemon Test” are to help explain religious freedom, which is part of the First Amendment. Religious freedom has two parts. First is to protect people from the religious beliefs imposed on them by the government, and second is to protect people from government restrictions on their own religious beliefs. The first part of religious freedom is the “Establishment Clause,” which is stipulated that the government prohibits the creation or promotion of the religion it supports. Because the separation of church and state helps reduce the social unrest caused by religious conflicts. Moreover, the “Establishment Clause” also prohibits the government from favoring any one religious belief, leaving the government in a neutral state among all religions. Also, the related “Lemon Test” is to explain whether laws or other government actions that may promote certain religious practices are allowed to be established. The “Lemon Test” has three criteria to make such laws or actions effective and to be found constitutional. First, the relationship between government and religion should be relatively simple, which means that the actions or laws allowed by the government should not make the government and religion have too much entanglement. Second, the government’s influence on religion should be neutral. Third, the actions or laws permitted by the government must have some legitimate reasons for non-religious purposes. Thus, the “Establishment Clause” and the related “Lemon Test” is a detailed explanation of religious freedom in the First Amendment. 

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

Burning the US flag is protected by the First Amendment. Because the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution stipulates that the U.S. Congress must not enact laws to restrict citizens’ freedom of speech. The burning of the national flag is a symbolic speech which represents the one’s views of the parties concerned, and the act of burning the national flag for the purpose of expression. According to Reading 9.1, the author showed the case of burning the U.S. flag. The author writes, “In 1984, as part of a protest near the Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas, Johnson set fire to a U.S. flag that another protestor had torn from a flagpole. He was arrested, charged with “desecration of a venerated object” (among other offenses), and eventually convicted of that offense. However, in 1989, the Supreme Court decided in Texas v. Johnson that burning the flag was a form of symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment and found the law, as applied to flag desecration, to be unconstitutional” (Reading 9.1). Therefore, the act of burning the American flag to express political opinions is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

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

When someone says “I’m taking the Fifth,” which means the person has the right to refuse to answer law enforcement officers’ questions that may provide evidence of his/her crime. In other words, people have the right to remain silent in order to avoid answering the questions that put them in trouble in court. According to Reading 9.2, the author explained the meaning of “I’m taking the Fifth.” The author writes, “Perhaps the most famous provision of the Fifth Amendment is its protection against self-incrimination, or the right to remain silent. This provision is so well known that we have a phrase for it: “taking the Fifth.” People 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” (Reading 9.2). Therefore, the meaning of “I’m taking the Fifth “is that the person has the right to refuse or remain silent on issues raised by law enforcement officials.