WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 25 that directs the attorney general to prosecute those caught burning the American flag or desecrating it in other ways.
“You will see flag burning stopping immediately,” Trump said. “The people in our country don’t want to see our flag burned and spit on.”
The order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to send appropriate cases to state and local authorities and to pursue charges in line with the First Amendment.
Burning U.S. flags as a form of political protest was popularized during the Vietnam War, leading to the Flag Protection Act of 1968, which outlawed burning, defacing, defiling, mutilating, or trampling the flag….