ance of the American flag, which he said at 429 "throughout 200 years of our history, has come to be the visible symbol embodying our Nation." The Chief Justice cited numerous examples, including Revolutionary and Civil War poems, to buttress his argument. His second point was that the Court's own precedents did not support the majority decision. He said at p. 429 "it is well understood that the right of free speech is not absolute at all times and under all circumstances." One of those exceptions was the so-called 'fighting words' exception first set forth in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942), in which Justice Frank Murphy announced for the Court that excluded from the protection of the First Amendment were 'insulting or fighting words,' which he defined as "those that by their very utterance inflict injury or intend to incite a breach of the peace." Most legal observers believe that this part of Rehnquist's dissent was weak because the Supreme Court in a series of cases has basically overruled the
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