President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday directing federal agencies to take aggressive steps against desecration of the American flag, reviving one of his longstanding campaign promises.
The order instructs the Justice Department to prioritize enforcement of federal and state laws that could be applied to flag desecration when it is tied to violence, property destruction, or civil rights violations. It also authorizes the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and State to deny visas, revoke immigration benefits, or pursue deportation of foreign nationals who engage in flag desecration under certain circumstances.
While the Supreme Court has held that flag burning is protected symbolic speech under the First Amendment, Trump’s order argues that the Court has left open the door to criminal penalties when such acts incite violence, amount to “fighting words,” or otherwise violate content-neutral laws such as fire safety or disorderly conduct regulations.
Americans can expect the order to draw immediate constitutional challenges. In Texas v. Johnson (1989), the Court struck down state laws banning flag burning, declaring that government cannot prohibit expression simply because it is offensive or disagreeable. Trump’s directive appears to test the boundaries of that ruling by tying enforcement to other criminal conduct or immigration law.
The move fulfills one of Trump’s repeated commitments to “restore respect and sanctity” to the American flag, a theme he has emphasized at rallies and in his 2025 campaign platform. Supporters view the executive order as a defense of national unity and patriotism, while critics see it as a direct attack on free speech rights.
Because the order relies on existing statutes rather than creating new crimes, its practical impact may be limited to encouraging prosecutors and agencies to act more aggressively in cases where flag burning overlaps with other offenses. Still, the administration signaled its intent to pursue litigation aimed at clarifying or narrowing the scope of First Amendment protections in this area.
The executive order also includes a severability clause, meaning if portions of the order are struck down, the remaining sections would remain in effect.
With the directive, Trump has reignited one of the nation’s most potent free speech debates — one that will now likely be litigated again in federal court.
So wearing the flag on your private parts is ok, but burning it isn’t?
No one was getting out in jail when the flag burning started gettting a lot worse in 2016 onwards
Go stand in the middle of Arlington cemetery sometime, it’s sobering.
Which colors in the pride flag represent pedophilia, bestiality and necrophilia?
“private” parts allowed because it is “private”
Flag burning is public …. 2 different things.
Please read the EO before you comment next time.
Can I still burn the Palestinian flag?
Who ever burns the American flag should be charged with arson, disorderly conduct, desecration of national symbol, destruction of property, in-sighting a riot, social disobedience and should be deported, period, end of story.
And don’t give me this ”its an act of exercising free speech, first amendment rights”.
Agreed. I hated seeing it on tv the past 9 yrs
inciting
Not a fan of the 1st amendment I see.
One upside to freedom of speech is that if you allow people to exercise it they will end up telling you exactly who they are. Or who they aren’t.
It used to be a crime to desecrate our country’s flag. When did it stop being a crime?
Where you been since 2016 ?
2016? The legalization of flag burning happened 35 years ago (1989)
When? Since 1989-1990 it was legalized then by a Supreme Court decision.
Hell yah.
This isn’t a law it’s empty words. Unenforceable.
But, it did such a good job of trolling the left.
Move back to Jersey.
When did the GOP become the party of regulation and anti-free speech? This administration keeps showing us their ideals are closer to the Left than to Libertarian ideals. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Read the EO, then come back and see if your comment still stands.
How do I say Bull…. without offending you? Too many politicians burn our American Flag and US Constitution through leftist legislation, and whether by GOP bad actors like Mitch McTurtle head or by almost every Democrat politician, especially Obama and his auto-pen puppets, burning the American Flag is symbolic for stabbing good American patriots in the back, those who’ve sacrificed their all in order to support the greatest Constitutional Republic the world has ever had.
Exercise your first amendment right, but do not burn our Flag! Doing so burns the symbol that supports this right and therefore is totally antithetical…!!!
1. Countless Americans died in wars during the history of our nation to protect our freedom of speech and expression. Will we now allow it to be abridged with the stroke of a pen?
2. No other country on earth allows their citizens to desecrate their national flag like in the USA. That is because ours is like no other country on earth. Our freedom of speech and expression is unequalled by any other nation. We are set apart. We are not the same. They are all envious.
3. Let’s say, for a moment, we start prosecuting flag desecration. What if someone burnt a flag with 14 rather than 13 stripes? Or 51 instead of 50 stars? Or what if the stars were on a field of red and the stripes were blue? Or let’s say someone burned a paper poster with the image of the flag printed thereon? Or how about a crayon drawing on a sheet of typing paper? Then the US Supreme Court would need to pass down perhaps a thousand decisions to endlessly re-define what actually is flag desecration.
4. In reality, our flag is a cloth symbol of our nation; nothing more. It is not sacred. Idolizing it or holding it in esteem is misguided idolatry. Those who hold the Christian faith know He commands us not to exalt graven images. He is a jealous god and will not tolerate even the semblance of worshipping a false idol. Anyone disrespecting our flag is misguided; but we should not allow it to upset us. That would be a lack of faith. Those heroes who erected our flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, in 1945 were not fighting for the flag. Rather, they used it only as a symbol of that which they were fighting for….. which is the topic of another essay.
It’s a trap. Dems and the media are falling for it. SCOTUS already decided this.
Operative words in the EO are burning to incite violence. Bottom line is the idea of the flag as a symbol is strong enough to survive a fire. The fun part will come applying the same logic to other symbols of the political left including but not limited to LGBTQWTF flags and street murals, BLM flags, all things AntiFa, Palestinian flags, anything Islamic, etc. How you can burn or otherwise destroy any of that is beyond me, though. Cheers –
Why are you expecting the left to actually read the EO, rather than just reacting to something on social media.
Just google how many people have been arrested for running over a pride flag or vandalizing BLM spaces, if damaging a gay pride flag is a crime, surely it should be the same if the American Flag is treated the same way~PERIOD!
There is only ONE FLAG. The American flag. The others are alphabet NONSENSE!
If burning an American flag gets you a year in prison, how long does tearing one down at the U.S. Capitol and replacing it with a Trump flag get you? Asking for a friend.
Dementia Joe insisted on a gay flag front and center of the White House while He was occupying the oval office so I guess its a personal choice by the people’s choice at the time.
I believe the person who did that got four years in prison. But, I would have to check that.
I am sorry to post a second reply so quickly, but… seriously Sebastian? Seriously???
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Hundreds of people were arrested and charged with a laundry list of crimes for January 6th. Most of them received sentences that were way out of proportion to the offense they were charged with. Many of them spent months in jail before even getting their first hearing.
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And, you think your snotty, childish, and clueless comment is doing what, exactly? I cannot even guess what you were trying to do, but I can tell you what you managed to accomplish. You managed to tell everyone here that you are a rabid anti-conservative, anti-Trump leftist that will spout off whatever nonsense that enters his head to try and troll the right. Even when reality cuts any legs out from underneath him. The chance to troll the right is too good to ignore.
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Too bad it just made you look ignorant and childish.