President Donald Trump has issued an executive order directing the Justice Department to prosecute anyone who burns or desecrates the American flag, mandating a minimum one-year prison sentence.
The order requires Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue such cases without exceptions and urges prosecutors to directly challenge the Supreme Court’s 1989 Texas v. Johnson ruling, which established flag burning as protected political expression under the First Amendment.
Constitutional conflict
In Texas v. Johnson (1989), and again in United States v. Eichman (1990), the Supreme Court struck down state and federal bans on flag desecration, affirming that even deeply offensive protest actions are safeguarded as free speech.
Backlash from free speech advocates
Civil liberties groups immediately criticized the order. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) said a president “cannot override constitutional protections by executive action.” Legal analysts argued the directive stretches executive authority and lacks evidence that flag burning poses any public danger.
The order also targets non-citizens, threatening visa cancellations and deportation for foreign nationals who burn the flag — a move critics compared to authoritarian loyalty laws.
Commentators noted the irony that Trump is pushing to criminalize flag burning despite Justice Antonin Scalia — a conservative icon and defender of originalism — having supported its constitutional protection in the Johnson decision.
