Trump Believes He Just Banned Flag Burning. He Did Not

It’s a Monday, which means several of the thoughts that popped into the president’s head over the weekend are ready to be baked into executive orders. Apparently, one thought Trump had is that he does not like it when people set the American flag on fire. And a related thought: Burning the flag should be a crime, punishable by exactly one year in prison.

I, too, do not like it when people burn the American flag. But I have exactly as much legal authority to make doing so a crime nationwide as President Trump does, which is to say none at all. He can, however, can issue an executive order on the matter. Titled “Prosecuting Burning of the American Flag,” the order would be unconstitutional. One cannot be prosecuted in this country for burning an American flag, as that would violate the free speech clause of the First Amendment. Antonin Scalia and four other Supreme Court justices reached this conclusion in 1989, and it has never been overturned.

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John R. Puri

John R. Puri is the Thomas L. Rhodes Fellow at National Review.

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It’s a Monday, which means several of the thoughts that popped into the president’s head over the weekend are ready to be baked into executive orders. Apparently, one thought Trump had is that he does not like it when people set the American flag on fire. And a related thought: Burning the flag should be a crime, punishable by exactly one year in prison.

I, too, do not like it when people burn the American flag. But I have exactly as much legal authority to make doing so a crime nationwide as President Trump does, which is to say none at all. He can, however, can issue an executive order on the matter. Titled “Prosecuting Burning of the American Flag,” the order would be unconstitutional. One cannot be prosecuted in this country for burning an American flag, as that would violate the free speech clause of the First Amendment. Antonin Scalia and four other Supreme Court justices reached this conclusion in 1989, and it has never been overturned.