Overview

• The executive order signed Monday directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to prioritize prosecutions tied to flag desecration and to pursue litigation to test the First Amendment’s limits in such cases.
• The Justice Department is instructed to examine incidents for violations under other laws, including violent- and hate-crime statutes, civil-rights offenses, property crimes, conspiracies, and aiding and abetting, and to refer qualifying cases to state and local authorities.
• A man who identified himself as a U.S. Army veteran burned a flag outside the White House the same day the order was signed and was charged under a federal rule prohibiting fires in public parks, according to reports.
• Texas v. Johnson (1989) and a 1990 follow-on ruling protect flag burning as symbolic speech, a precedent free-speech attorneys say the administration is attempting to narrow through test cases.
• The order also targets immigration benefits for noncitizens who desecrate the flag, while civil-liberties advocates and some conservatives argue the effort is unconstitutional or invites selective enforcement.