President Trump signed an executive order on Monday that aims to put flag burners behind bars. "If you burn a flag, you get one year in jail," Trump said, reports USA Today. "You will see flag burning stop immediately." Specifically, the order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to "vigorously prosecute those who violate our laws in ways that involve desecrating the flag, and to pursue litigation to clarify the scope of First Amendment in this area," per Fox News.
The Washington Post explains that a 1989 Supreme Court ruling decreed that burning the US flag is protected by the First Amendment. Trump is essentially asking Bondi to look for a case that might challenge that ruling and end up before a Supreme Court that is notably more conservative than the 1989 court. "We will do that without running afoul of the First Amendment," Bondi said.
Trump's order takes specific aim at immigrants accused of flag burning by directing his administration to "deny, prohibit, terminate, or revoke visas, residence permits, or naturalization proceedings, and other immigration benefits, or seek (their) removal from the United States," per the executive order. Trump had been especially irked earlier this year at seeing images of US flags being burned in Los Angeles during protests of immigration raids, per the Post.