Trump Enacts Order to Criminalize Flag Burning
(MENAFN) U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signed a controversial executive order seeking to impose a one-year prison sentence on individuals who burn the American flag, reigniting a legal battle with the Supreme Court, which has long defended the act as constitutionally protected speech.
The move challenges the high court’s landmark 1989 decision, which affirmed that flag desecration falls under First Amendment protections. Trump, however, framed the act as a threat to public safety and social stability.
"What happens when you burn a flag is the area goes crazy. If you have hundreds of people, they go crazy. You can do other things. You can burn this piece of paper, but when you burn the American flag, it incites riots at levels that we've never seen before," Trump stated during a press event announcing the order.
He elaborated further: "People go crazy, in a way, both ways. There are some that are going crazy for doing it. There are others that are angry, angry about them doing it."
Under the new directive, Attorney General Pam Bondi is instructed to "vigorously prosecute those who violate our laws in ways that involve desecrating the American Flag, and may pursue litigation to clarify the scope of the First Amendment exceptions in this area."
The executive order comes amid heightened tensions, following mass protests in Los Angeles, where demonstrators were seen burning flags in response to Trump's controversial deployment of the National Guard to reinforce immigration enforcement in the city.
The directive signals a renewed confrontation between the executive branch and constitutional free speech protections, raising immediate questions about its enforceability given current legal precedent.
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