On August 25, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that has reignited a fierce debate over free speech, patriotism, and the boundaries of presidential power in the United States. The order, which mandates a one-year jail sentence for anyone convicted of burning the American flag, has drawn both praise and condemnation across the political spectrum, with critics warning that it directly challenges a longstanding Supreme Court precedent protecting flag burning as a form of free expression.
Trump, flanked by top advisors in the Oval Office, declared, “If you burn a flag, you get one year in jail; no early exits, no nothing.” He added, “You get one year in jail, and it goes on your record, and you will see flag burning stopping immediately.” According to the Associated Press, the president insisted that flag burning is “likely to incite imminent lawless action,” despite acknowledging the 1989 Supreme Court decision that found the act to be protected under the First Amendment.
This move comes amid a series of high-profile flag burning incidents at protests across the country. In recent years, American flags have been torched at demonstrations ranging from anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles and Seattle to pro-Palestinian rallies in Washington, D.C., New York, and Chicago. According to Fox News, such acts have been especially visible during moments of political tension, such as the Democratic National Convention in 2024 and the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. The White House has described flag burning as “uniquely offensive and provocative,” framing the executive order as part of a broader effort to “restore respect and sanctity to the American Flag.”
Yet legal experts and free speech advocates argue that the order oversteps constitutional boundaries. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) responded sharply: “President Trump may believe he has the power to revise the First Amendment with the stroke of a pen, but he doesn’t. The government can’t prosecute protected expressive activity—even if many Americans, including the president, find it ‘uniquely offensive and provocative.’”
Monday’s executive order goes further than previous attempts to limit flag burning, calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute offenders to the “fullest extent possible.” It also threatens visa revocation, deportation, and more for foreign nationals who burn the flag, claiming, without evidence, that such acts are used to “intimidate and threaten Americans.” Trump has repeatedly characterized flag burning as “incitement” or “fighting words,” asserting that it “incites riots at levels we’ve never seen before.” However, legal scholars have dismissed these claims as unfounded. GS Hans, a law professor at Cornell University, told the Associated Press, “I don’t think this is something that has been a big problem. It’s a solution in search of a problem.”
Trump’s executive order is not the first time the issue of flag burning has come before the nation’s highest court. In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. Johnson that burning the American flag is a protected form of speech under the First Amendment. The case centered on Gregory Lee Johnson, who burned a flag outside the 1984 Republican National Convention as a protest. Justice William Brennan, writing for the majority, stated, “…The Government cannot assume that every expression of a provocative idea will incite a riot, but must look to the actual circumstances surrounding the expression.” The Court held that flag burning does not, on its own, constitute “fighting words.”
Congress, dissatisfied with the ruling, swiftly passed a law attempting to outlaw flag desecration, but the Supreme Court reaffirmed its position in a separate case in 1990. Over the years, efforts to pass a constitutional amendment banning flag burning have repeatedly failed. In 2006, the Senate came within one vote of advancing such an amendment, with then-Republican leader Sen. Mitch McConnell casting the decisive vote against it. McConnell argued that “the answer to flag burning…was more freedom, not less.”
Despite these legal protections, public opinion has consistently favored restrictions on flag burning. According to a 2021 Knight Foundation/Ipsos poll, only 31% of Americans agreed that people should be allowed to burn the American flag. More recently, a July 2025 YouGov/CBS poll found that two-thirds of Americans believe flag burning should be illegal. Back in 1989, more than two-thirds supported a constitutional amendment to ban the practice, though only a minority considered it a very important issue. By 2006, Gallup/USA Today found 54% opposed amending the Constitution to specifically prohibit flag desecration.
The recent wave of flag burning incidents has provided new fuel for the debate. Fox News documented several high-profile episodes: anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles and Seattle in June 2025, during which flags were burned in protest of Trump’s immigration crackdown; pro-Palestinian demonstrators burning American and Israeli flags during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 2024; and similar acts during Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address to Congress in Washington, D.C. in July 2024. Arrests were made at several of these events, with charges ranging from assaulting police officers to theft and making threats.
Trump has repeatedly linked these acts to foreign nationals and “far-left agitators,” though legal experts note that the majority of incidents involve American citizens protesting domestic issues. In a speech at Fort Bragg following the Los Angeles riots, Trump declared, “These are animals, but they proudly carry the flags of other countries. They don’t carry the American flag. They only burn it. Did you see a lot of the flags being burned? 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.”
Some political figures have also weighed in with strong opinions. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris condemned a 2024 flag burning, stating the flag “should never be desecrated in that way.” Meanwhile, the current Supreme Court’s stance on flag burning remains uncertain. Notably, Justice Samuel Alito’s wife flew an American flag upside down at their Virginia home in January 2021, a gesture Alito attributed to his wife’s “love of flags” and a neighborhood dispute, according to CNN.
For now, Trump’s executive order sets the stage for a potential legal showdown. The administration has indicated it will pursue prosecution not only for flag burning itself but for any associated crimes, such as violence, hate crimes, or property damage. Some analysts suggest the order may be an invitation for the Supreme Court to revisit its landmark decisions on the issue.
The flag, as Trump’s order notes, remains “the most sacred and cherished symbol of the United States of America, and of American freedom, identity, and strength.” But as the country grapples with renewed protests and political polarization, the battle over what constitutes protected speech—and who decides its limits—shows no sign of abating.
