President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday took to Twitter to denounce flag burning, saying it should perhaps result in loss of citizenship or a year in jail.
Trump ostensibly was reacting to the report of students burning a flag at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., after his election victory. About 1,000 veterans gathered at the school Sunday to protest the school's decision to remove all flags after the incident.
The only stumbling block for the president-elect is that flag burning is protected as free speech by the Supreme Court.
The high court ruled in 1989 Texas vs. Johnson by a 5-4 decision that invalidated prohibitions on flag burning.
Justice Antonin Scalia, whose death left an opening on the court for which Trump will get to replace, sided with the majority.
Trump spokesman Jason Miller backed up his boss later Tuesday in an interview on CNN's "New Day."
"I think most Americans would agree with me that flag burning should be illegal. It’s completely despicable,” Miller told host Chris Cuomo.
"Flag burning is completely ridiculous and I think you know that and that the vast majority of Americans would agree," he continued.
Cuomo protested, though, that the act is "constitutional," and asked whether Miller and his boss know that?
"It should be illegal, Chris," Miller insisted, without answering Cuomo's question.
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