Why This Flag Day Is a Reminder That the Meaning of American Patriotism Is More Complicated Than You Might Think

Thursday marks exactly 75 years since the June 14, 1943, ruling in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that expelling a student who doesn’t recite the Pledge of Allegiance — one of the best-known everyday celebrations of that same flag — violates the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of speech and religion.