Smith v. Goguen, No. 72-1254 (U.S. Supreme Court) (415 U.S. 566; 94 S.Ct. 1242) (March 25, 1974) (Justice Powell)
Here a divided Court held that a statute that makes it a crime for one to mutilate, trample, deface or "treat contemptuously" the flag of the United States was too vague to provide an ascertainable standard of guilt.
In this case, the appellant (the sheriff of Worcester County, MA) appealed ...
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