“While I fully support the spirit of this legislation, certain technical changes are necessary.”
by Robby Soave
Reason.com
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, signed legislation on Tuesday prohibiting the sale of Confederate flags on public property, including at state and local fairs.
Cuomo was well aware that such legislation is likely to fail a First Amendment test, but this did not deter him.
“This country faces a pervasive, growing attitude of intolerance and hate—what I have referred to in the body politic as an American cancer,” he wrote. “By limiting the display and sale of the confederate flag, Nazi swastika and other symbols of hatred from being displayed or sold on state property, including the state fairgrounds, this will help safeguard New Yorkers from the fear-installing effects of these abhorrent symbols.”