Burn the flag, go to jail: Donald Trump's another rant sparks criticism

Los Angeles : President-elect Donald Trump and his new ideas are always treated cautiously. On Tuesday, his suggestion of two blatantly illegal punishments for Americans engaged in free speech shocked the world.

Trump made an unusual statement on Tuesday morning by saying, "Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag. If they do, there must be consequences - perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!"

Notably, in America flag burning is no criminal offence as the Supreme Court has twice ruled that flag burning is a type of political expression, which means that any such act is prevented from government punishment by the First Amendment, regardless of what Congress or the president thinks.

Experts were shocked to note the point Trump made. While it is flatly unconstitutional to jail a citizen for burning the flag, Trump's suggestion of stripping citizenship in response is even more extreme.

In several such cases, Supreme Court has overruled attempts to do so for more grave matters than flag burning.

Infact in 1958 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that any US government cannot revoke citizenship as punishment for desertion.

 

Chief Justice Earl Warren’s statement read: "The deprivation of citizenship is not a weapon that the Government may use to express its displeasure at a citizen's conduct, however reprehensible that conduct may be.”