Logo - Feel The Words

Desecration Quotes

Where law, protest, and public space collide.

These desecration quotes focus heavily on the long-running debate over flag burning, including the failed constitutional amendment and the Act of 1989 meant to settle it. One speaker argues the question belongs to voters, not courts.

Worrying that banning flag desecration would inhibit free speech reveals a misunderstanding of the flag's fundamental nature.

Quotes by Adrian Cronauer

It was almost a desecration to put a building on the Boulder Turnpike, which is now U.S.-36 and is almost backyards and even junkyards all the way up. We didn't have to put development just cheek to jowl all the...

Quotes by Richard Lamm

Flag desecration is not a constitutional issue for the courts. It is a political one that belongs to the people.

Quotes by Larry Craig

Laws protecting the United States flag do not cut away at the freedom of speech guaranteed in the First Amendment... Congress made this position clear upon passage of the Flag Protection Act of 1989, which prohibited desecration of the flag.

Quotes by Larry Craig

Act Quotes

Unfortunately a Constitutional amendment that would have empowered Congress to make desecration of the United States flag illegal failed to pass by one vote.

Quotes by Kenny Marchant

We know there are poets who are chosen: by what or whom, we no more know than what lies beyond our final breath, or what caused a certain action which resulted in the fulfillment or the desecration and collapse of...

Quotes by Franz Wright

Frequently Asked Questions

What law is referenced in these desecration quotes?
Several quotes reference the Flag Protection Act of 1989 and a failed constitutional amendment that would have let Congress ban flag desecration outright. Both are treated as real, documented legislative history.
Do these quotes argue desecration is a free speech issue?
One quote argues explicitly that laws protecting the flag do not undermine First Amendment speech rights, framing the debate as compatible with free expression. Another calls the whole question political rather than something for courts to decide.
Is desecration only discussed in relation to the flag here?
No, one quote extends the idea to a physical space, calling it almost a desecration to put ordinary development on a stretch of land near the Boulder Turnpike. It shows the word applying to land and memory, not just symbols.
Who gets to decide what counts as flag desecration?
According to one quote, that decision belongs to the people and their elected Congress, not the courts, since the issue is treated as political rather than constitutional.
How close did the flag amendment come to passing?
One quote notes it failed by exactly one vote, a detail that underscores how contested the issue has been in American politics. It remains one of the more specific historical facts referenced on this page.

A different quote widens the idea of desecration to Building on land that deserved to stay untouched, showing the word covers more than protest alone. Together they frame desecration as a question Congress keeps returning to.