President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Monday directing federal prosecutors to bring criminal charges against individuals who burn American flags during demonstrations.
The directive represents an effort to circumvent constitutional protections established by the Supreme Court decades earlier.
This move marks President Trump's latest attempt to restrict what courts have previously recognised as protected speech under the First Amendment.
The executive order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to examine instances where individuals have burned flags and determine whether alternative criminal charges can be pursued.
President Trump said burning the American flag incites riots
|POOL
Federal prosecutors are instructed to explore potential violations of other statutes, including disturbing the peace or breaching environmental regulations.
This approach attempts to sidestep direct constitutional challenges by focusing on ancillary offences rather than the act of flag burning itself.
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The order tasks the Justice Department with reviewing existing cases to identify prosecutable elements beyond the symbolic destruction of the flag.
The strategy represents an indirect method of criminalising flag burning whilst avoiding direct confrontation with established First Amendment protections.
Trump signed the executive order into motion
|POOL
Speaking from the Oval Office whilst signing the directive, President Trump expressed his frustration with flag burning incidents.
"All over the country they're burning flags," the President stated. "All of over the world they burn the American flag, and as you know, through a very sad court, I guess it was a 5-4 decision, they called it freedom of speech."
President Trump further argued that flag destruction provokes civil unrest. "But when you burn the American flag, it incites riots, at levels we've never seen before," he added.
The President has maintained this position for years, having previously advocated for severe penalties including potential loss of citizenship for flag burners.
Donald Trump walking down the steps of his Trump-branded plane | REUTERSThe 1989 Supreme Court ruling in Texas v Johnson established flag burning as constitutionally protected political expression through a narrow 5-4 decision.
This landmark case invalidated flag-burning legislation across 48 states, cementing the right to destroy flags as a form of political demonstration.
Public sentiment appears to align with Trump's position on this matter. YouGov polling from 2020 revealed nearly half of Americans favour criminalising flag destruction, whilst approximately one-third consider it acceptable behaviour.
More recent survey data from September 2023 indicates growing opposition, with 59 per cent of Americans now viewing flag burning during protests as "never" acceptable under any circumstances.