President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing the Justice Department to prosecute individuals who desecrate the American flag while inciting violence or committing other crimes — a move widely seen as a challenge to Supreme Court precedent.
The order instructs Attorney General Pam Bondi to bring cases and pursue litigation aimed at clarifying the limits of First Amendment protection for flag desecration.
Flag burning has been litigated before: in 1989, the Supreme Court ruled it a form of symbolic speech shielded by the First Amendment.
“What the president is doing is ordering DOJ lawyers to prosecute those who maliciously burn the American flag,” Zack Smith, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Meese Center, told Fox News Digital. “That would essentially tee up a challenge for the Court to revisit and potentially overturn its prior precedent.”
“My Administration will act to restore respect and sanctity to the American Flag and prosecute those who incite violence or otherwise violate our laws while desecrating this symbol of our country, to the fullest extent permissible under any available authority,” the order reads.
“The Attorney General shall prioritize the enforcement to the fullest extent possible of our Nation’s criminal and civil laws against acts of American Flag desecration that violate applicable, content-neutral laws, while causing harm unrelated to expression, consistent with the First Amendment,” the order read.
“This may include, but is not limited to, violent crimes; hate crimes, illegal discrimination against American citizens, or other violations of Americans’ civil rights; and crimes against property and the peace, as well as conspiracies and attempts to violate, and aiding and abetting others to violate, such laws.”
The order added, “To the maximum extent permitted by the Constitution, the Attorney General shall vigorously prosecute those who violate our laws in ways that involve desecrating the American Flag.”
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Trump Signs Executive Order Mandating One-Year Jail Term for Burning the American Flagpic.twitter.com/uvyn9lqmkg
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