President Trump signs executive order requiring the US Department of Justice to prosecute those who burn or desecrate the national flag.
“I have signed an executive order: Anyone who burns the national flag will be sentenced to one year in prison, without parole or commutation,” US President Donald Trump announced when announcing the document at the White House on August 25.
The executive order also directs the US Attorney General to prioritize prosecution of violations, and to clarify the scope of the First Amendment on freedom of speech, thereby demonstrating that desecration and burning of the US flag should not be protected by the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that flag burning is protected by free speech, saying the government cannot criminalize flag destruction if it is done to express an ideology.
“The Court has never considered that desecration of the American flag could incite another criminal act or be given the same seriousness as belligerent speech,” the order reads.
Trump’s order directs federal prosecutors to prosecute flag burners for other crimes, such as property damage, public disorder, or violations of the public fire code. It also requires that violators be barred from new visas, residency, or naturalization.
Trump called the flag “America’s most sacred and cherished symbol,” and said flag burning is offensive, provocative, and could incite violence. The order emphasizes that desecration of the American flag “demonstrates hostility to the nation.”
However, civil liberties groups have fiercely opposed President Trump’s order. Some US legal scholars have also warned that the order may not stand before the Supreme Court. Many Supreme Court justices have agreed that the First Amendment protects flag burning.
“You don’t have to like flag burning to condemn it, to argue about it, or to fly it higher. Freedom of speech is about one person expressing their opinion, even if others don’t,” the Foundation for Free Speech and Expression said in a statement.