Former U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing strict punishment for anyone who burns or desecrates the American flag. The order sets a mandatory one-year prison sentence with no early release options.
The directive also tasks Attorney General Pam Bondi with enforcing the policy. It urges the Justice Department to challenge the 1989 Supreme Court decision in Texas v. Johnson. That ruling declared flag burning a form of symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment.
Trump’s order includes penalties not just for U.S. citizens, but also for foreign nationals. Non-citizens who desecrate the flag may face visa cancellation and deportation. This provision has drawn comparisons to laws in authoritarian countries that enforce national symbols through strict penalties.
Legal and free speech experts have raised serious concerns. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) stated that no executive action can override constitutional protections. Critics also argue that the order lacks evidence that flag burning causes harm or violence.
The Supreme Court has long upheld the right to burn the flag as a form of political expression. In addition to Texas v. Johnson, the 1990 case United States v. Eichman reaffirmed that laws banning flag desecration are unconstitutional.
Analysts note the irony of Trump’s stance, as conservative Justice Antonin Scalia once defended the right to burn the flag in his court opinion. Scalia called it a painful but essential part of free speech protections.
Supporters of the order view it as a patriotic move to defend national honor. However, opponents see it as a politically motivated attack on civil liberties.
The flag remains a powerful national symbol. But how it should be treated—and whether protest actions involving it can be criminalized—continues to divide public opinion and legal experts alike.
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