President-elect Donald Trump may want to start consulting the Constitution before he logs onto Twitter. On Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted that flag burning, an act constitutionally protected as free speech, should be a punishable offense:
Though it's not entirely clear what prompted Trump to tweet about flag burning, Bloomberg reporter Jennifer Jacobs noted it might have something to do with Trump's upcoming meeting with Fox News' Pete Hegseth:
The constitutionality of flag burning has been challenged before. In June 1990, the Supreme Court declared that laws "against desecrating the flag are unconstitutional," Time reported. And in 2012, the late Justice Antonin Scalia explained that flag burning, while he personally disagreed with it, is undeniably "a form of expression" protected under the First Amendment. "It is addressed in particular to speech critical of the government," Scalia said of the First Amendment. "I mean, that was the main kind of speech that tyrants would seek to suppress."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Deaf Republic: ‘an experimental epic of war and resistance’The Week Recommends Ukrainian-American writer Ilya Kaminsky’s poetry collection is brought to the stage in this ‘enthralling’ production
-
The Week US subscriptions FAQHow to manage your subscription, get digital access, enquire about delivery problems and renew gift subscriptions
-
10 upcoming albums to stream during spooky seasonThe Week Recommends As fall arrives, check out new albums from Taylor Swift, Jeff Tweedy, the Lemonheads and more
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raidSpeed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearingSpeed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mountSpeed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own listspeed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battleSpeed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
