A California law that bans red flags is unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment's protection of symbolic speech as applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. Decided May 18, 1931 (argued April 15, 1931). Opinion of the Court: Charles Evans Hughes → go there Dissenting: McReynolds, Butler. Applied: the First Amendment → go there Applied: the Fourteenth Amendment → go there Topic: Freedom of speech and of the press. Stromberg v. California, 283 U.S. 359 (1931), is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court held, 7–2, that a California statute banning red flags was unconstitutional because it violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. In the case, Yetta Stromberg was convicted for displaying a red flag daily in the youth camp for children at which she worked, and was charged in accordance with California law. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes wrote for the seven-justice majority that the California statute was unconstitutional, and therefore Stromberg's conviction could not stand. Wiki link