President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that anyone who burns an American flag should face unspecified “consequences,” such as jail or a loss of citizenship – a move that was ruled out by the Supreme Court nearly three decades ago.
Trump’s words, expressed on Twitter early Tuesday morning, put him at odds with the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who was in the majority in the 1989 decision that said flag-burning is a form of speech that is protected by the First Amendment.
READ MORE: Missing iconic ground zero flag to return to site for 9/11 anniversary
It was not immediately clear what prompted the tweet.
Get breaking National news
Trump has called Scalia, who died in February, a great judge and said he would appoint someone to fill Scalia’s seat who is much like the conservative legal icon.
READ MORE: Confederate emblem ‘anti-American’, judge in flag case says
But in 1989, Scalia signed onto an opinion written by the liberal Justice William Brennan that struck down a criminal conviction under Texas law for burning a flag during a political protest.
- U.S. Election 2024: Questions arise over groups door-knocking for Donald Trump
- Hezbollah launches overnight rocket barrage in response to Israeli attacks
- FBI agents board vessel managed by company whose other cargo ship collapsed Baltimore bridge
- Secret Service’s next challenge: Keeping scores of world leaders safe at the UN General Assembly
Asked about that vote decades later in an interview on CNN, Scalia said he would outlaw flag-burning “if I were king.” But the First Amendment exists to protect “speech critical of the government. That’s the main type of speech tyrants would seek to suppress,” he said.
The White House echoed Tuesday that the First Amendment should prevail in such matters.
READ MORE: Donald Trump, John Isner join list of Americans upset by Colin Kaepernick’s anthem stance
“We have a responsibility as a country” to carefully protect the rights enshrined in the Constitution, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, adding that the burning of the U.S. flag offends most Americans, himself included.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said that he does not “support or believe in the idea of people burning the American flag. I support the First Amendment.” He added that Congress has no plans to take action against flag burning.
Also on Tuesday, Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., took issue with the tweet. “We want to protect those people who want to protest….I disagree with Mr. Trump on that,” Duffy said Tuesday on CNN’s “New Day”.
Duffy is the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee’s panel on oversight and investigations.
Comments