Although President-elect Donald J. Trump has been pilloried for suggesting that flag burners should be punished, it is conceivable that a prosecution of flag burners could be brought and succeed.

It is important to remember that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions of this issue were closely decided. When the matter first came up in Texas v. Johnson in 1989, the court invalidated by a 5-4 vote the conviction of Gregory Lee Johnson for desecrating a flag in violation of a Texas law.