Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday instructing federal prosecutors to pursue criminal charges against individuals who burn American flags during protests.
It’s an attempt by Trump to go around a supreme court decision from 1989, when the court ruled 5-4 in Texas v Johnson that destroying the flag is protected political expression under the first amendment.
“All over the country they’re burning flags,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday when he signed the order.
Trump also claimed “you burn a flag, you get one year in jail” as he signed the executive order, but the order itself doesn’t include details about a potential jail sentence.
In 2016, he posted on social media: “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”.
Polling conducted by YouGov in 2020 showed nearly half of Americans support making flag destruction illegal, while about one-third believe it’s permissible.
An updated YouGov survey from September 2023 found that 59% of Americans now consider burning an American flag during protests to be “always unacceptable”. »