Trump insists that those who burn the U.S. flag will face immediate arrest and a one-year prison term upon conviction, citing his August 25 executive order.
President Donald Trump on Friday declared that anyone caught burning the American flag will be “immediately arrested” and sentenced to one year in prison, citing his August 25 executive order on flag desecration — a move that legal experts say could face significant constitutional hurdles.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “To ICE, Border Patrol, Law Enforcement, and all U.S. Military: As per my August 25, 2025 Executive Order, please be advised that, from this point forward, anybody burning the American Flag will be subject to one year in prison. You will be immediately arrested.”
The executive order directs the Justice Department to pursue flag desecration cases “to the maximum extent permitted by the Constitution,” but it does not establish new penalties. Trump’s public statement, however, appears to go further — raising questions about how the directive will be enforced given long-standing Supreme Court precedent protecting such acts as free speech.
In Texas v. Johnson (1989) and United States v. Eichman (1990), the Supreme Court ruled that burning the U.S. flag is a form of symbolic expression safeguarded under the First Amendment. Any move to criminalize it, legal scholars warn, would almost certainly trigger legal challenges.
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White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson defended the order, saying it reinforces public safety and respect for national symbols. “President Trump will not allow the American Flag — a special symbol of our country’s greatness — to be used as a tool to incite violence and riots that jeopardize the safety of everyday Americans,” Jackson said in a statement.
She added that Trump “will always protect the First Amendment, while simultaneously implementing commonsense, tough-on-crime policies to prevent violence and chaos.”
Trump has repeatedly called for tougher measures against those who desecrate the flag, framing the act as an attack on national unity and patriotism. The latest declaration also aligns with his broader law-and-order message as the federal government remains partially shut down amid budget disputes.
While it remains unclear how federal and local agencies will interpret the order, legal analysts say enforcing criminal penalties for flag burning would directly conflict with decades of constitutional precedent — setting up what could become another high-stakes legal confrontation over free speech in America.
