Trump Wants Flag Burners to Face Prison or Loss of Citizenship

Trump¹ Wants Flag Burners to Face Prison or Loss of Citizenship²

President-elect Donald Trump says people who burn the American flag should be punished.

He suggested that punishment could be up to a year in prison or a loss of citizenship.

But it will not be easy for Trump to carry out his proposal.

Supreme³ Court says burning flag is permitted form of protest

In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that flag burning is protected under the First Amendment⁴ of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech.

Changing a Supreme Court decision requires either amending⁵ the amendment or a new opinion by the High Court. Neither is easy to get done.

The Supreme Court case involved a man named Gregory Lee Johnson. He was arrested in 1984 for burning an American flag at the Republican Party’s national convention in Texas. Johnson said he set the flag on fire to protest the nomination⁶ of Ronald Reagan for a second term as U.S. president.

A lower court had ruled against Johnson. But the high court overturned the decision.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that a lot of Americans are offended by the burning of the American flag. But he noted⁷ that in the Texas case, Johnson burned the flag as an act of protest. As an act of protest, he said, flag burning is protected under free speech.

“The hard fact is that sometimes we must make decisions we do not like,” Kennedy wrote. “We make them because they are right, right in the sense that the law and the Constitution, as we see them, compel the result.”

Four Supreme Court justices agreed with Kennedy. Four others disagreed.

Writing for the minority judges, Justice William Rehnquist noted that burning a flag is not really free speech. He said it is more like a person grunting⁸, making sounds like an animal.

Trump has not said why he is raising the flag burning issue now.

Flag protests at Massachusetts college

But his comments on Twitter came after a group of U.S. military veterans protested at a small Massachusetts college last weekend. The veterans objected to the removal of an American flag at Hampshire College, a private school in the town of Amherst.

The removal came after some students lowered the flag to half-staff on November 9th. That was the day after the U.S. presidential election, of which Trump has been declared the winner.

Flags are flown at half-staff to recognize deaths of important people or to recognize sad events. Some Hampshire College students and teachers said they are fearful of what will happen under Trump’s presidency⁹.

The flag continued to be flown at half-staff until November 10th, when it was burned. The college says it does not know who burned the flag.

A new flag was ordered flown at half-staff. But later, College President Jonathan Lash¹⁰ ordered the flag removed, saying some had seen it flying at half-staff as a comment on the presidential election.

It was not, Lash said. He said it was part of an effort by the college to deal with divisions over the flag among members of the college community.

“We’ve heard from members of our campus community that, for them and for many in our country, the flag is a powerful symbol of fear they’ve felt all their lives because they grew up in marginalized communities, never feeling safe,” Lash said.

“For others, the flag is a symbol of their highest aspirations¹¹ for the country.”

On CNN television Tuesday, Trump spokesman Jason Miller¹³ said that the country’s next president believes flag burning should be illegal.

“The president-elect is a very strong supporter of the First Amendment, but there’s a big difference between that and burning the American flag,” Miller said.

Words in This Story

compel - v. to force someone to do something

grunting – v. top make a sound like a pig

symbol - n. an action, object, event, etc., that expresses or represents a particular idea or quality

marginalized - adj. putting someone in a powerless or unimportant position within a society or group

aspiration¹² - n. something that a person wants very much to achieve

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

3 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

4 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

5 amending   

改良，修改，修订( amend的现在分词 )； 改良，修改，修订( amend的第三人称单数 )( amends的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Amending acts in 1933,1934, and 1935 attempted to help honest debtors rehabilitate themselves. 一九三三年，一九三四年和一九三五年通过的修正案是为了帮助诚实的债务人恢复自己的地位。
• Two ways were used about the error-amending of contour curve. 采用两种方法对凸轮轮廓曲线进行了修正。

6 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 grunting   

咕哝的，呼噜的

参考例句：

• He pulled harder on the rope, grunting with the effort. 他边用力边哼声，使出更大的力气拉绳子。
• Pigs were grunting and squealing in the yard. 猪在院子里哼哼地叫个不停。

9 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

10 lash   

v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛

参考例句：

• He received a lash of her hand on his cheek.他突然被她打了一记耳光。
• With a lash of its tail the tiger leaped at her.老虎把尾巴一甩朝她扑过来。

11 aspirations   

强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音

参考例句：

• I didn't realize you had political aspirations. 我没有意识到你有政治上的抱负。
• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。

12 aspiration   

n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出

参考例句：

• Man's aspiration should be as lofty as the stars.人的志气应当象天上的星星那么高。
• Young Addison had a strong aspiration to be an inventor.年幼的爱迪生渴望成为一名发明家。

13 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。