New Jersey lawyer booted from city council chamber after waving American flag (which was banned)

EDISON, NJ - Residents of a New Jersey town are incensed after their city council banned the display of the American flag during municipal meetings and removed one community member for displaying Old Glory in defiance of the ban.

The Edison City Council had police officers forcibly escort local attorney Joel Bassoff from its late November meeting. Bassoff was speaking in front of the body and holding an American flag- harshly criticizing a newly enacted township ordinance that bans the display of so-called "props" during council meetings. This ordinance includes items such as the American flag or copies of the United States Constitution, according Bassoff, who spoke in a Wednesday Fox Business interview.

“I’m holding up an American flag to represent the constitutional values," Bassoff said of his actions, speaking as a city resident during the November council meeting. The display of the national flag was met with a bang of the gavel from Council President Nishith Patel- a warning to Bassoff regarding his supposed infraction.



“It’s my constitutional right to do this," Bassoff said of his actions, threatening legal consequences for the city of Edison should it persist in banning the national symbol. "If you get sued, you will lose. My suggestion to you is that you get a second opinion from competent counsel because you are wrong.”

“You are interfering with the decorum of this meeting by interfering with the right to speech of a member of the public. And it should stop now."

However, the council motioned for police personnel to stop Bassoff from speaking, with officers directing the attorney to leave the council chamber.

Community members- who showed up in force to speak against the city council's action- chanted "shame on you" as Bassoff was escorted out of the room, a statement seemingly directed at the council members themselves.
 

“To consider the American flag and the Constitution a prop when someone raises it is an insult to what the flag is, what the flag stands for and what this country is,” Edison resident Maryann Hennessey said of the ban.

Another Edison resident was kicked out of the council chamber earlier in the meeting for waving an American flag, according to the New York Post.

The ordinance in question doesn't directly mention the flag itself, instead identifying "props" “considered not conducive to good order" as banned items at council meetings.

However, the city of Edison is appearing to significantly back down after the row involving Bassoff became a topic of national attention, according to the New York Post.

Patel clarified that the American flag was not considered a banned "prop" in a statement, with Edison Mayor Sam Joshi seeming to indicate he had browbeaten Patel into correcting misconceptions regarding the flag.

“I have spoken to the council president regarding this matter and he has humbly apologized and issued his official statement for the confusion surrounding the recently passed decorum ordinance," Joshi said of the situation.