President Donald Trump wants to unravel the Supreme Court’s free speech protection for lighting the American flag on fire.
Trump signed an executive order on Monday seeking to punish Americans for burning the U.S. flag.
In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag during a protest is a protected form of free speech.
The practice became popularized years before, during heated Vietnam War riots.
Trump’s bold new order directs the Department of Justice to prosecute individuals who ‘desecrate’ the flag, along with detaining and deporting immigrants who are accused of flag burning.
‘If you burn a flag, you get one year in jail, no early exits, no nothing,’ Trump declared in the Oval Office.
‘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,’ Trump’s order reads.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is directed to review all cases where the flag has been burned and find what other charges could be brought forward.
Trump also requests the attorney general to find cases challenging the SCOTUS ruling.
According to multiple reports, Trump planned to sign an executive order last week but for undisclosed reason, delayed signing it.
Since the start of his career in politics, Trump has advocated for imposing legal penalties on protesters who destroy the American flag despite the Supreme Court’s prior ruling.
In the past, the president has called for stripping the citizenship from naturalized American citizens who burn the flag and advocated for jail time as a punishment.
Trump during the 2024 campaign season even floated the idea of introducing a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning as a form of protected protest.
Amid the anti-ICE protests in LA earlier this year, Trump called for throwing demonstrators in jail for a year for setting the flag on fire.
‘These are animals, but they proudly carry the flags of other countries. They don’t carry the American flag,’ Trump told a crowd of servicemembers at Fort Bragg.
‘They only burn it. Did you see a lot of the flags being burned?”
He added, ‘They weren’t being burned by people from our country, or from people that love our country. People that burn the American flag should go to jail for one year.’
Trump then claimed that he’s working with lawmakers in DC to push through legislation outlawing flag burning.
‘We’ll see if we can get that done. We’re going to try and get that done. We’re working with some of your senators.’