Take down the enemy flag

Last week, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal of a Civil War descendant to fly the Confederate flag daily over a national Civil War cemetery in Maryland where 3,300 Confederate soldiers are buried. The Court dismissed Patrick Griffin's case without comment, upholding the appeals court decision that the Veteran's Administration rightfully restricted Confederate flag flying to Memorial Day and Confederate Memorial Day.\n We applaud the Supreme Court's decision to dismiss the case. Point Lookout cemetery in Maryland is a national cemetery, where the United States government is the custodian. In the Civil War, despite the fact members of the other side were formerly U.S. citizens, the Confederate States of America was the enemy. The appeals court ruling that the purpose of Point Lookout is to honor the buried as Americans is fair. The U.S. doesn't typically honor enemy flags, but many of our citizens did perish on both sides of that tragic war, and the Veteran's Administration shows sensitivity to these issues by allowing the Confederate flag to be flown twice a year. \nGriffin appealed the Veteran Administration's decision on the grounds that his First Amendment rights were being violated. Time, place and manner have always been grounds for first amendment restrictions and are applicable in this case. To fly the Confederate flag daily over the entire cemetery, whose custodian is the U.S. government, could be perceived by many as the government's endorsement of the Confederate States of America and its policies. The flag has always been a symbol of racial discrimination to many, and if it were flown above a public, government-funded cemetery, it would likely be misinterpreted by many. \nOne person's wish to express his personal opinion daily in a manner that could be perceived as a public endorsement infringes on the First Amendment rights of others. The assumption that all of the descendants of those buried in Point Lookout want their relatives to be buried under the representation of the Confederate flag is not only presumptive, but unconstitutional.\nNo one is restricting Griffin's individual rights to decorate the flag of his relative's grave in the manner he chooses. Every cemetery has individual rules about the size and placement of decorations, but if Griffin would like to place Confederate symbols within Point Lookout's restrictions, no one will stop him. No one is infringing on Griffin's right to have pride in Confederate veterans and what they stood for. The Veteran's Administration gives him the opportunity to display that pride in a public arena twice a year. The Supreme Court decision upholds the First Amendment rights of Griffin, the relatives of all those buried at Point Lookout and the U.S. public.