Trump proposes ‘automatic' year in jail for action protected under 1st Amendment
'People that burn the American flag should go to jail for one year,' the 47th president said during a speech at Fort Bragg, North Carolina on Tuesday. 'That's what they should be doing.'
Trump's comments about flag burning were in reference to the recent protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Los Angeles.
The president called the protesters 'animals' who wave the flag of other countries but burn the flag of the United States.
In a podcast hosted by New York Post columnist Miranda Devine, released this week, the president said that those who burn the American flag should go to jail automatically.
'I happen to think if you burn an American flag — because they were burning a lot of flags in Los Angeles — I think you go to jail for one year,' he said. 'Just automatic.'
Sending people automatically to jail would violate the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, which reads that no person will be 'deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.'
Flag burning in the United States is also protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution, thanks to the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling in the 1969 case, Texas V. Johnson.
Protesters have been waving Mexican flags during the demonstrations in Los Angeles, according to several news outlets. A photo in an article published by the New York Post on June 9 shows an American flag being set on fire in Los Angeles.
Trump has previously expressed support for jailing flag burners — even though the action is constitutionally protected.
During a speech in Detroit in August 2024, Trump said that the country has to make flag burning illegal, according to Newsweek.
'They say, 'Sir, that's not constitutional.' We'll make it constitutional,' Trump said — without further elaborating how he would make the ban constitutional.
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