The president signed an executive order directing the attorney general and the Justice Department to pursue cases against people who incite violence or otherwise violate laws while desecrating the American flag. The president said flag burning incites riots at unprecedented levels and provokes extreme reactions. Free speech attorneys note that the Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that flag burning is protected by the First Amendment, and legal experts emphasize that people may use the flag to express support or opposition. Incidents of flag desecration date back to the Civil War, and late 19th-century state laws later spurred prosecutions.
On Monday, Trump signed an executive order instructing the attorney general to pursue cases against people who "incite violence or otherwise violate our laws while desecrating this symbol of our country." When Trump signed the order, he said that there are a slew of ways people can protest the government. "But when you burn the American flag, it incites riots at levels that we've never seen before. People go crazy," he said.
Free speech attorneys note that the Supreme Court has ruled on multiple occasions that flag burning is protected by the First Amendment and say Trump's effort runs afoul of settled law. David Cole, a professor at Georgetown Law who has represented flag burners in several high-profile cases, said people can legally use the American flag as they see fit. "It can be used to wave it to express support for the government. It can be used to burn it to express opposition to the government," Cole said.
Incidents involving the desecration of the American flag date back at least as far as the Civil War, according to Jonathan White, a professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University. "Some of it was Union soldiers who were really angry about the direction the war was going, and they might curse at the flag or say something negative about it," White said. "I also found women and young girls who were court martialed tried before military courts for desecrating the flag in some cases."
Collection
[
|
...
]