Frank Snider chose to express his disagreement with the government by attempting to burn a United States Flag in his Cape Girardeau front yard in October 2009. When his neighbor called the police to complain, Snider was arrested and charged with desecrating the flag in violation of a Missouri statute.
On July 6, 2010, Snider filed a lawsuit against Cape Girardeau and Officer Matthew Peters. The federal district court in Cape Girardeau declared on March 20, 2012, that Missouri’s statute prohibiting flag desecration is unconstitutional and permanently enjoined the state from enforcing the law. The decision came in a case brought by the ACLU of Eastern Missouri on behalf of Frank Snider, who was arrested and held in jail for eight hours on a charge of violating the statute.
The court held that the statute is facially invalid because it prohibits a substantial amount of protected speech. According to the ruling, “A law directed at the communicative nature of conduct must, like a law directed at speech itself, be justified by the substantial showing of need that the First Amendment requires. … Here the State does not, and likely could not, articulate an interest that would justify restricting expression.”
“Every law enforcement official should know expressive conduct involving the Flag is entitled to the protection of the First Amendment,” said Anthony E. Rothert, Legal Director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri and one of Snider’s attorneys in the case. “This decision forecloses any further enforcement of the statute in Missouri.”
A follow-up trial was held Aug. 24, 2012, before Judge Jackson in the Cape Girardeau - Southeastern Division to decide what damages would be awarded. Mr. Snider received $7,000 in compensatory damages and the ACLU was awarded attorneys' fees and costs.
Officer Peters appealed the denial of qualified immunity and the attorneys' fees award. The state of Missouri intervened in this action and appealed the district court's order declaring Missouri's flag desecration statute unconstitutional and the award of attorneys' fees. Frank Snider then appealed the district court's order denying his motion for summary judgment against the City of Cape Girardeau, and on May 30, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s judgment holding that Snider’s expressive actions were fully protected by the United States Constitution, Peters was not entitled to qualified immunity, and the Missouri statute was facially unconstitutional.