President Trump signed an executive order directing the Justice Department to pursue criminal charges against individuals who burn the American flag to “incite imminent lawless action.”

“You burn a flag, you get one year in jail,” Trump said.

“No early exits,” he added.

“Incite the riot,” he emphasized.

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The executive order is an attempt by the Trump administration to go around a Supreme Court decision in 1989 that ruled destroying the flag is protected free speech under the First Amendment.

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“Notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s rulings on First Amendment protections, the Court has never held that American Flag desecration conducted in a manner that is likely to incite imminent lawless action or that is an action amounting to ‘fighting words’ is constitutionally protected. See Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, 408-10 (1989),” the executive order read.

“My Administration will act to restore respect and sanctity to the American Flag and prosecute those who incite violence or otherwise violate our laws while desecrating this symbol of our country, to the fullest extent permissible under any available authority,” it continued.

“The people in this country don’t want to see our American flag burned and spit on,” Trump said.

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The Guardian has more:

That court ruling threw out flag-burning laws in 48 states and made it clear that people have the right to burn flags as a way to express their political views.

“All over the country they’re burning flags,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday when he signed the order. “All of over the world they burn the American flag, and as you know, through a very sad court, I guess it was a 5-4 decision, they called it freedom of speech.

Trump also claimed “you burn a flag, you get one year in jail” as he signed the executive order, but the order itself doesn’t include details about a potential jail sentence.

Trump has long advocated for criminalizing flag burning. In 2016, he posted on social media: “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”

Most Americans tend to agree with Trump on this issue. Polling conducted by YouGov in 2020 showed nearly half of Americans support making flag destruction illegal, while about one-third believe it’s permissible. An updated YouGov survey from September 2023 found that 59% of Americans now consider burning an American flag during protests to be “always unacceptable”.

“The Attorney General shall prioritize the enforcement to the fullest extent possible of our Nation’s criminal and civil laws against acts of American Flag desecration that violate applicable, content-neutral laws, while causing harm unrelated to expression, consistent with the First Amendment,” the executive order read.

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“This may include, but is not limited to, violent crimes; hate crimes, illegal discrimination against American citizens, or other violations of Americans’ civil rights; and crimes against property and the peace, as well as conspiracies and attempts to violate, and aiding and abetting others to violate, such laws,” it continued.

CBS News noted:

The executive order the president signed pushes Bondi to investigate instances of flag desecration. The administration has been critical of pro-Palestinian protests and anti-immigration crackdown demonstrations that have featured flag burning.

“And then where there’s evidence of criminal activity, where prosecution wouldn’t fall afoul of the First Amendment, it instructs the Department of Justice to prosecute those who were engaged in these instances of flag burning,” said Trump staff secretary Will Scharf.

Mr. Trump said he wants the penalty for flag burning to be at least one year in prison.

Read the full executive order HERE.

 

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