President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order banning the burning of the American flag, declaring that those who desecrate it will face one year in jail, as reported by The New York Post.
“If you burn a flag, you get one year in jail — no early exits, no nothing,” Trump said during the signing ceremony at the White House. “And you will see flag-burning stopping immediately.”
The order directs the Department of Justice to investigate all incidents of flag burning and pursue prosecution “where prosecution wouldn’t fall afoul of the First Amendment,” according to White House staff secretary Will Scharf.
Trump first previewed the measure in June during an appearance on The Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast, following riots in Los Angeles in which demonstrators were seen burning American flags while waving Mexican flags.
“They were burning a lot of flags in Los Angeles,” Trump told columnist Miranda Devine at the time.
The president has long argued for stricter penalties against those who desecrate the American flag. During his first term, Trump backed a constitutional amendment that would have codified such a prohibition.
He compared Monday’s action to his earlier executive order protecting national monuments, saying that measure immediately stopped widespread vandalism during protests.
Legal precedent, however, has complicated efforts to criminalize flag burning. In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. Johnson that burning the flag constituted symbolic speech protected under the First Amendment.
The following year, in United States v. Eichman, the Court struck down the Flag Protection Act of 1989 on the same grounds.
“Through a very sad court,” Trump said Monday, “they called it freedom of speech.” He added, “When you burn the American flag, it incites riots.”
🚨BREAKING: President Trump signs an Executive Order punishing people who burn the American flag with a 1-year jail sentence:
“If you burn a flag, 1 year in jail, no exits and it goes on your record. You will see flag burning stop immediately.”
pic.twitter.com/q5ZoQQFWKr
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 25, 2025
The president’s comments follow decades of debate over whether desecrating the national flag should be constitutionally protected.
Notably, the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia and former Justice Anthony Kennedy sided with the majority in both cases affirming the right to burn the flag.
Despite the legal challenges, Trump said the new executive order was necessary to protect national unity and prevent violence. The Department of Justice is expected to release guidelines in the coming weeks on how prosecutions will be pursued under the order.
