Scalias wisdom: Burning the U.S. flag is awful, but lawful
Kneeling vs burning? Which is worse?
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http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2016/12/03/Scalia-s-wisdom-Burning-the-U-S-flag-is-awful-but-lawful/stories/201612310060
“Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag,” President-elect Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday. “If they do, there must be consequences — perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”
“If I were king,” the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia once said in an interview, “I would not allow people to go about burning the American flag. However, we have a First Amendment, which says that the right of free speech shall not be abridged. … Burning the flag is a form of expression. Speech doesn’t just mean written words or oral words. … Burning a flag is a symbol that expresses an idea.”
Justice Scalia was part of the 1989 Supreme Court majority that held that flag-burning was protected by the First Amendment. Revoking citizenship for flag-burning would be unconstitutional.
Justice Scalia was no progressive, but a conservative icon. And Mr. Trump himself called Justice Scalia a “great judge.”
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