Symbolic Speech Quotes
Protesting the Supreme Court Texas v. Johnson decision protecting the right to burn the American flag as "symbolic speech:"
This statement was made After the Senate straw-voted 58-42 in favor of a constitutional amendment against flag burning, less than the two-thirds required by the Constitution.
Trump was then President Elect who already had a large staff helping him fomake the transition. He still went off on his own with this state,ment whiich runs afoul of the Constitution which he would soon sware to defend when he took the Oath of Office. The Supreme Court had unequivocably ruled that the burning of the flag was a type of political speech and as such could not be curtailed or punished by the government. The penalty of a loss of citizenship was another constitutional thicket. In addition. in the hisoty of the country,, it had never been used as a punishment for breaking domestic law.
In this case, the Supreme Court held that burning or desecrating the American flag may not be prohibited or criminalized by the government. Flag burning, they ruled, is symbolic speech and is protected by the 1st amendment just like political pamphlets.
Responding to George W. Bush's call for a constitutional amendment to make burning of the American flag illegal:
