{"id":149069,"date":"2025-08-25T14:12:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T19:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldtribune.com\/?p=149069"},"modified":"2025-08-25T14:12:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T19:12:17","slug":"new-executive-order-bans-burning-the-american-flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/new-executive-order-bans-burning-the-american-flag\/","title":{"rendered":"New executive order bans burning the American flag"},"content":{"rendered":"

by<\/em><\/span> WorldTribune<\/strong> Staff<\/em><\/span><\/span>, August 25, 2025 <\/em>Real World News<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

President Trump on Monday signed an executive order aimed at prohibiting the burning of the American flag.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you burn a flag, you get one year in jail \u2014 no early exits, no nothing,\u201d Trump said in signing the order.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cAnd you will see flag-burning stopping immediately,\u201d he added, claiming an action he took in his first administration to protect national monuments from being destroyed<\/a> had a similar effect.<\/p>\n

Under Trump\u2019s order, the Department of Justice is tasked with investigating all incidents of setting the Stars and Stripes ablaze and bring charges\u00a0\u201cwhere prosecution wouldn\u2019t fall afoul of the First Amendment,\u201d White House staff secretary Will Scharf noted.<\/p>\n

Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression Chief Counsel Bob Corn-Revere noted: \u201cWhile people can be prosecuted for burning anything in a place they aren\u2019t allowed to set fires, the government can\u2019t prosecute protected expressive activity \u2014 even if many Americans, including the president, find it \u2018uniquely offensive and provocative.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to like flag burning. You can condemn it, debate it, or hoist your own flag even higher. The beauty of free speech is that you get to express your opinions, even if others don\u2019t like what you have to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

The order authorizes Attorney General Pam Bondi to \u201cvigorously prosecute those who violate our laws in ways that involve desecrating the American Flag.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis may include, but is not limited to, violent crimes; hate crimes, illegal discrimination against American citizens, or other violations of Americans\u2019 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,\u201d the order states.<\/p>\n

Under the order, Bondi, Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem may also terminate visas, residence permits, naturalization proceedings or other immigration benefits for foreign nationals who burn U.S. flags.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were burning a lot of flags in Los Angeles,\u201d Trump\u00a0told New York Post columnist Miranda Devine<\/a>, referring to videos and images of rioters\u00a0setting Old Glory on fire<\/a>, while also waving Mexican flags.<\/p>\n

In 1989, the Supreme Court determined in\u00a0Texas vs. Johnson<\/a>\u00a0that incinerating\u00a0the American flag was an act of \u201csymbolic speech\u201d with constitutional protections.<\/p>\n

In 1990, the high court ruled in U.S. v. Eichman that flag-burning was considered free speech, striking down the federal Flag Protection Act of 1989.<\/p>\n

Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia joined with Justice Anthony Kennedy in both high court cases to uphold Americans\u2019 right to burn the American flag.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it were up to me,\u201d Scalia said at a 2015 event during which he reflected on the Texas vs. Johnson ruling, \u201cI would put in jail every sandal-wearing, scruffy-bearded weirdo who burns the American flag. But I am not king.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough a very sad court,\u201d Trump said Monday of the rulings, \u201cthey called it freedom of speech. When you burn the American flag, it incites riots.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI fully support President Trump\u2019s executive order to crack down on flag burning and destruction,\u201d said Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt deserves nothing less than our highest respect,\u201d Lummis added. \u201cI urge Democrats and left-wing protesters to stop this grotesque and offensive American flag burning and come together in treating the flag with the dignity and reverence it deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Support<\/span> Free Press Foundation<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by WorldTribune Staff, August 25, 2025 Real World News President Trump on Monday signed an executive order aimed at prohibiting the burning of the American flag. \u201cIf you burn a flag, you get one year in jail \u2014 no early exits, no nothing,\u201d Trump said in signing the order. \u201cAnd you will see flag-burning stopping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":149071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9,10,16],"tags":[482],"class_list":["post-149069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusives","category-rest-of-the-best","category-top-stories","category-u-s-politics","tag-new-executive-order-bans-burning-the-american-flag","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}