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Trump moves to ban flag burning despite Supreme Court ruling that Constitution allows it
https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-order-flag-burning-4628d588350db4f6baf10ae1d91f49c1?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order requiring the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute people for burning the American flag, an activity that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled is legitimate political expression protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The order the Republican president signed in the Oval Office acknowledged the court’s 5-4 ruling in a case from Texas in 1989, but said there is still room to prosecute flag burning if it “is likely to incite imminent lawless action” or amounts to “fighting words.”
In that case, the justices ruled 5-4 that the First Amendment protects flag burning as legitimate political expression. The late Justice Antonin Scalia, the conservative icon who Trump has repeatedly praised, was in the majority.
Trump said Monday that burning the U.S. flag “incites riots at levels we’ve never seen before,” with some people “going crazy” over burning it and others expressing anger at people for burning it. He did not offer examples.
The text of the executive order states that desecrating the American flag is “uniquely offensive and provocative. It is a statement of contempt, hostility, and violence against our Nation — the clearest possible expression of opposition to the political union that preserves our rights, liberty, and security. Burning this representation of America may incite violence and riot.”
https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-order-flag-burning-4628d588350db4f6baf10ae1d91f49c1?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order requiring the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute people for burning the American flag, an activity that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled is legitimate political expression protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The order the Republican president signed in the Oval Office acknowledged the court’s 5-4 ruling in a case from Texas in 1989, but said there is still room to prosecute flag burning if it “is likely to incite imminent lawless action” or amounts to “fighting words.”
In that case, the justices ruled 5-4 that the First Amendment protects flag burning as legitimate political expression. The late Justice Antonin Scalia, the conservative icon who Trump has repeatedly praised, was in the majority.
Trump said Monday that burning the U.S. flag “incites riots at levels we’ve never seen before,” with some people “going crazy” over burning it and others expressing anger at people for burning it. He did not offer examples.
The text of the executive order states that desecrating the American flag is “uniquely offensive and provocative. It is a statement of contempt, hostility, and violence against our Nation — the clearest possible expression of opposition to the political union that preserves our rights, liberty, and security. Burning this representation of America may incite violence and riot.”
