The Supreme Court has ruled that burning the American flag is protected under the First Amendment, but House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday, following a tweet posted by President-elect Donald Trump concerning flag burners, that he doesn't understand why anyone would want to burn a flag, anyway.
"We have a First Amendment right, but where I come from, you honor the flag," the California Republican told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program Tuesday morning.
"In my neck of the woods, people don't burn their flags. They actually honor their flags."
Earlier in the morning, Trump posted a tweet denouncing flag burning, saying it should result in either a loss of citizenship or a year in jail.
The tweet was likely in response to reports of students burning a flag at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., to protest Trump's win in the election. The school removed all flags after the incident, and veterans gathered at the college on Sunday to protest their decision.
McCarthy continued that if someone wanted to burn the flag in his home district and uphold their First Amendment right, "I'd be afraid for their safety," but at the same time, the amendment should be protected.
"That's what the court has upheld," said the lawmaker. "I think the best thing we have going for us is growing an economy, I don't see why anybody would want to burn an American flag. It's the greatest symbol of freedom in a country that was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal."
"Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough noted that in 1989, the Supreme Court ruled in the decision on Texas v. Johnson, by a 5-4 decision that flag burning was protected under the Constitution, but that it "barely passed."
Further, he said, the Senate tried in in 2006 to amend the Constitution to outlaw desecrating the flag, in a measure that lost by only one vote.
"I only bring this up to say that maybe for some people around today, this wouldn't be a bad issue to push forward to stop people," said Scarborough. "Elites will sniff, but again this is a much closer decision at least than a lot of people are assuming."
"Whether you like it or not, it's protected," said co-host Willie Geist, an Scarborough said he wasn't sure why Trump posted the tweet.
"We can burn the flag," he said. "It's hateful and it's disgusting but it's protected by the First Amendment. Maybe somebody got Trump's ear."
He said it also puts Democrats and editorial writers in the position to say they come down on the side of flag burning, while giving Trump's supporters a reason to call for him to pick Supreme Court justices who will outlaw the practice.
"Just don't take the bait," Scarborough said to the camera, directly addressing Democrats.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.