Torie Bosch at Slate loves to dive into the inane.
Though the writer likely did not intend to display her ignorance of the Constitution.
A First Amendment scholar, Bosch is not, just a hack looking for a cheap and misinformed shot at Barrack Obama.
Trying to engineer a controversy in her piece: How Barack Obama Broke the Law-Do you really need to put your hand on your heart during the national anthem?, Bosch blathers on:
According to U.S. law, a civilian like Obama is supposed to stand up when the anthem is played, take off his hat, face the flag, and put his right hand over his heart. ...
So, does this mean that it's against the law to sit down for "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a baseball game? Technically, but you won't get in trouble. Though the procedure for listening to the national anthem is spelled out in the U.S. Code, you can't be punished for breaking the rules. That would likely be considered a violation of the First Amendment. For instance, the Supreme Court ruled that Jehovah's Witnesses had the right to skip the pledge.
First Amendment doctrine recognizes our right to sit during, stand at attention, drink beer to, and even refuse to say the pledge; not recite the anthem, not place your hand on your heart, take a flag and burn it (safely), and not be forced into compelled political speech as an obvious corollary to the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech.
A First Amendment scholar, Bosch is not, just a hack looking for a cheap and misinformed shot at Barrack Obama.
Trying to engineer a controversy in her piece: How Barack Obama Broke the Law-Do you really need to put your hand on your heart during the national anthem?, Bosch blathers on:
According to U.S. law, a civilian like Obama is supposed to stand up when the anthem is played, take off his hat, face the flag, and put his right hand over his heart. ...
So, does this mean that it's against the law to sit down for "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a baseball game? Technically, but you won't get in trouble. Though the procedure for listening to the national anthem is spelled out in the U.S. Code, you can't be punished for breaking the rules. That would likely be considered a violation of the First Amendment. For instance, the Supreme Court ruled that Jehovah's Witnesses had the right to skip the pledge.
First Amendment doctrine recognizes our right to sit during, stand at attention, drink beer to, and even refuse to say the pledge; not recite the anthem, not place your hand on your heart, take a flag and burn it (safely), and not be forced into compelled political speech as an obvious corollary to the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech.
There is no "procedure for listening to the national anthem" with the force of federal law, as Bosch would have you believe.
Bosch's assertion that one is "supposed to" (according to U.S. Law) display some patriotic display is ludicrous and reveals a grade-school understanding of the First Amendment.
The supreme law of the land is the U.S. Constitution to which Bosch finally makes a passing reference, further consideration of which ought to have killed the stupid idea for her non-story.
Yet Bosch apparently stands by her editor's headline: "How Barack Obama Broke the Law...".
Drivel from a column that dubs itself the "Explainer".
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Bosch's assertion that one is "supposed to" (according to U.S. Law) display some patriotic display is ludicrous and reveals a grade-school understanding of the First Amendment.
The supreme law of the land is the U.S. Constitution to which Bosch finally makes a passing reference, further consideration of which ought to have killed the stupid idea for her non-story.
Yet Bosch apparently stands by her editor's headline: "How Barack Obama Broke the Law...".
Drivel from a column that dubs itself the "Explainer".
###
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