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Congresswoman Julia Letlow announced last week she’d be co-sponsoring a constitutional amendment to ban the burning of the U.S. flag with Arkansas Republican Steve Womack. Letlow says this amendment is about protecting the flag and what it represents.
“What better way to honor the sacrifices of the men and women who served in uniform and fought for our freedoms and even died for our freedoms. It’s time to protect the American flag from desecration,” Letlow said.
The proposal follows calls from President Trump for flag burners to face a year of jail time. Letlow says there has been an increase in flag burning recently amidst nationwide “No Kings” and anti-ICE protests. She says she defends the right to peaceful protest.
“Burning flags in the streets is not a peaceful way to protest, and I’m absolutely against it, vehemently against it, and I believe most Americans are,” Letlow stated.
In the 1989 landmark case Texas versus Johnson, the Supreme Court ruled flag burning is a form of symbolic speech protected under the First Amendment. Letlow says…
“That’s why this would require a constitutional amendment to change that. I just feel strongly that men and women have died for this flag, and for us to be able to raise it proudly. The desecration of it is just wrong,” Letlow said.
A proposed amendment must be approved by two-thirds of both the House and Senate and then ratified by three-fourths of the states.
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