Hawley Proposes Law in Direct Violation of First Amendment Rights

Fox News' Anders Hagstrom wasted no time supporting Hawley's illegal proposal. This kind of rhetoric is dangerous as it slowly wears down the expectation Americans have about their rights and freedoms. As disappointing and difficult to stomach it may be when people, especially Americans, burn the flag, they are protected by their first amendment rights to do so.^{1 2} The more these kinds of headlines are thrown out there, the less people will bat an eye when a law like this eventually gets passed. The Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. Johnson (1989) that flag burning constitutes protected symbolic speech. Legal experts note that similar federal legislation has consistently failed constitutional challenges.