Trump emphasized that the Supreme Court, which protected flag burning under the First Amendment in the 1989 Texas v. Johnson case, has not ruled that burning the flag in a manner that can incite a riot or violence is constitutionally protected.
Breibart quoted him saying: “As you know, through a very sad court, I guess it was a five-to-four decision, they called it freedom of speech. But there’s another reason, which is perhaps much more important. It’s called death(?) because what happens when you burn a flag, is the area goes crazy,” Trump said. “If you have hundreds of people, they go crazy. When you burn the American flag, it incites riots at levels that we’ve never seen before,” he added. “People go crazy - in a way, both ways. There are some that are going crazy for doing it. There are others that are angry - angry about them doing it.”
So it's a limited EO that doesn't hold much water, but symbolically, it sends a strong message. I agree with him, but the likelihood of anyone being prosecuted is miniscule, unfortunately.
Unfortunately, I've seen several people saying they will burn a flag because "TRUMP".
ReplyDeleteThe way the illegals and Leftists have been burning it may very well qualify for treating it as an incitement to riot, speech that is NOT protected by the First Amendment.
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe the actual effect will be minescule. BUT: if it causes the Dems to start loudly defending flag burning, or even promoting or better yet advocating it, well....there might be some interesting additional second order effects. And it's another 80/20 issue. Keep 'em coming.
ReplyDeleteIllegal Aliens don't have a "right" to burn jack-shit.
ReplyDeleteJpaul