"The meeting, billed by the White House as a discussion on antifa, featured Trump's characteristic mix of grievance and defiance. "We've made it a one-year penalty for inciting riots," Trump said. "We took the freedom of speech away, because that's been through the courts. When they burn a flag, it agitates and irritates crowds ... we're looking at it not from free speech, which I always felt strongly about, but from one that the courts never passed.""
"His comments came just weeks after he signed an August 25 executive order directing the Justice Department to "vigorously prosecute" acts of flag desecration and to refer cases to local authorities when appropriate. The order also instructs immigration officials to consider visa or citizenship consequences for noncitizens who burn flags and describes flag desecration as "uniquely offensive." However, executive orders are now laws, and flag burning remains legal in the United States."
President Donald Trump defended an executive order directing federal prosecutors to target people who burn or desecrate the American flag and said his administration had "taken freedom of speech away." He spoke at a roundtable with MAGA influencers and senior advisers, describing flag burning as agitation that can incite riots and noting a one-year penalty for inciting riots. The August 25 order directs the Justice Department to "vigorously prosecute" flag desecration, urges referrals to local authorities, and advises immigration consequences for noncitizens. Supreme Court precedents in Texas v. Johnson and United States v. Eichman protect flag burning as symbolic political speech under the First Amendment.
Read at Advocate.com
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