Trump Signs Order on Flag-Burning Cases, Potentially Challenging First Amendment Rights

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday that requires the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute incidents in which an American flag is burned. The order runs counter to a Supreme Court decision that holds flag burning is free speech explicitly protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

The new order from the White House includes qualifications that such burning may still be prosecuted if it could be considered incitement.

"Notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s rulings on First Amendment protections, the Court has never held that American Flag desecration conducted in a manner that is likely to incite imminent lawless action or that is an action amounting to “fighting words” is constitutionally protected," the order reads.

Those found guilty under the new order will face a year in jail without the possibility of early release. Foreign nationals found guilty may have residency or other permits revoked and may be deported.

President Trump said in remarks during the signing that flag burning “incites riots at levels we've never seen before," without offering specific evidence.

"I guess it was a 5 to 4 decision," the president said of the 1989 Supreme Court case that protected flag burning. "They called it freedom of speech. But there’s another reason, which is perhaps much more important. It’s called death."

"Because what happens when you burn a flag is the area goes crazy,” Trump said. “If you have hundreds of people, they go crazy.”