Top congressional Republicans defend right to burn American flag

Top Republicans don't seem to share President-elect Donald Trump's opinion that flag burning should be a punishable offense. After Trump tweeted Tuesday that burning the American flag, an act constitutionally protected as free speech, should result in jail time or a "loss of citizenship," both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) mildly — yet clearly — expressed their disagreement with the suggestion.

McConnell said that people who burn the flag "pose little harm to our country. But tinkering with our First Amendment might." McCarthy, during an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe, said: "We respect our First Amendment."

Both McConnell and McCarthy's remarks echo those of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who defended the Supreme Court's rulings against laws prohibiting burning the flag. Scalia said on more than one occasion that while he personally disagreed with flag burning, he agreed it is a "form of expression" protected under the First Amendment.

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