A previous version of this report inaccurately described the Supreme Court’s vote on the 1990 case United States v. Eichman. The story has been corrected.

President-elect Donald Trump tweeted early Tuesday that burning the U.S. flag should have “consequences,” suggesting loss of citizenship or a year in jail as punishment.

Trump’s tweet runs up against two Supreme Court decisions that have affirmed the right to desecrate the flag: one in 1989 and another the following year.

Trump’s transition spokesman, Jason Miller, was asked about the rulings on CNN Tuesday but did not respond to questions about the constitutional protections of flag burning. “Flag burning should be illegal,” Miller said repeatedly.

While the Supreme Court has upheld flag burning as a right, another challenge could turn out differently depending on Trump’s choice of justices. The high court is currently operating one member short of its full nine, following the death of Antonin Scalia in February. Trump is expected to pick a replacement for Scalia, and perhaps for other justices, during his presidency.

Read:Here’s who Trump may tap to tilt Supreme Court to the right

Flag desecration laws vary by country: it is illegal in China and North Korea, and also in democracies including Italy and Germany. Punishments include fines and jail time.

From the archive:Passion over flags extends far beyond the simmering Confederate flag controversy

Congress debated the issue in 2006. Here’s what Mitch McConnell, now the Senate majority leader, said at the time:

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in the 1989 case Texas v. Johnson that flag burning was a form of symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment. In 1990, the court affirmed the right to burn the flag in the United States v. Eichman case. That ruling was also 5-4.

It was unclear what if anything had precipitated the Trump tweet.