Overview

• Signed Monday, the executive order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to prioritize prosecutions where flag desecration is tied to other violations such as violent crime, property damage, or civil-rights offenses.
• The order does not create a new federal crime of flag burning and instructs federal agencies to refer potential state or local violations, including open-burning rules, to local authorities.
• It authorizes the Justice Department to pursue litigation aimed at clarifying narrow First Amendment exceptions related to conduct during flag desecration.
• Noncitizens who desecrate the flag may face visa revocations, halted naturalization proceedings, or removal, according to the order's immigration provisions.
• Hours after the signing, a person was arrested for burning a U.S. flag near the White House, as civil-liberties groups and several conservative commentators condemned the directive as unconstitutional under Texas v. Johnson and U.S. v. Eichman.