[cornelis]

From the comments:

The Judge is following federal law. If there is a valid false arrest claim (and this was a bad arrest) then the losing party pays the attorneys fees. It's standard procedure in every federal case like this. For some reason this paper decided to highlight this particular case (I'm shocked). The officer himself won't be paying a dime. It will come from the city for enacting and keeping an idiotic ordinance that's clearly unconstitutional.

I am against flag burning as well but the law is clear that it is constitutional. For a city to enact an ordinance basically directing officers that it is illegal to burn a flag is just stupid. I don't know if that is the case here, but am guessing it is. -- Posted by Ck1993 on Fri, Mar 1, 2013, at 5:28 PM

[USNBandit]

The more important ramifications of this might come into play when these state legislatures pass unconstitutional weapons bans.

[traditional1]

"I am against flag burning as well but the law is clear that it is constitutional"

Try burning an Obama Poster, and see who can win THAT case......

In the case of flag-burners, a neighborhood group could "convince" the perp to go elsewhere with their attention-grabbing episodes.