In support of Eugene’s post below, I recount the following story. I was a student at Yale Law School when the flagburning issue was at its apex during the Bush I-Dukakis campaign. The Yale Federalist Society had an dinner, at which the issue was discussed. At the end of the discussion, I asked for a show of hands as to who thought that flagburning was protected by the First Amendment. Every person in the room (about fifteen, as I recall), including some decidedly nonlibertarian types (including as least two who now hold high positions with GWB), raised his hand. So I doubt that flagburning-as-free-speech really separates conservatives from liberals, but rather elite lawyers from popular opinion.
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