Flag Burning Isn’t The Issue – Attempting to Punish Dissenters and Minimize Free Speech Is
Donald Trump’s communications director is really struggling with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In an interview Tuesday morning Jason Miller, who serves the Trump transition team, insisted that flag burning should be illegal, and just couldn’t seem to wrap his head around the fact that not only is it legal, it’s protected First Amendment speech as decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The President-elect Tuesday morning posted a tweet calling for flag burning to be illegal, punishable by the loss of citizenship, or one year in prison.Â
Even Trump’s favorite Supreme Court justice, the late Antonin Scalia, made very clear burning the American flag is an act protected under the Constitution.
“I think most Americans would agree with me that flag burning should be illegal,” Miller told CNN’s Chris Cuomo. “It’s completely despicable.”
Cuomo admitted that he, too, doesn’t care for the practice, but stressed the importance of free speech in a democracy.
Miller refused to entertain the fact that America has strong free speech rights, concluding, “flag burning should be illegal. End of story.”
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