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iemanja

(56,564 posts)
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 08:17 PM 18 hrs ago

Donald Trump issues order defying Supreme Court precedent

Source: Newsweek

A new executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Monday will allow for the prosecution of people involved in the burning of the American flag. This is in direct opposition to a precedent set by the Supreme Court in the Texas vs. Johnson case in 1989 that deemed the action an act of "symbolic speech."

The executive order would create a penalty of one year in jail, Trump said during a press conference in the Oval Office. . .

The executive order signed by Trump on Monday is in opposition to a legal precedent set by the Supreme Court in 1989 when it reached a 5-4 decision in Texas v. Johnson. Justice William Brennan wrote that the government could not prohibit expressive conduct merely because society found it offensive.

Should the order move forward, arrests for burning the American flag would face possible legal challenges and could warrant a revisiting of the precedent.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/donald-trump-issues-order-defying-supreme-court-precedent/ar-AA1LbmDH?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=68acc0482071419386bd94e13a982949&ei=10

35 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Donald Trump issues order defying Supreme Court precedent (Original Post) iemanja 18 hrs ago OP
No problem. We erred last time. Now a felony to burn the flag. chicoescuela 18 hrs ago #1
He imagines he can prosecute people in foreign countries iemanja 17 hrs ago #2
He's so fucking delusional and Captain Zero 17 hrs ago #4
I suppose he can have "his" DOJ go after them if and when they return to the U.S.... thesquanderer 16 hrs ago #18
The Supreme Court might as well retire to their expensive billionaire paid for vacation homes. Irish_Dem 17 hrs ago #3
A real American will test this pretty quick Captain Zero 17 hrs ago #5
Someone just did. Irish_Dem 17 hrs ago #8
Or light the Trumpsky... Harker 17 hrs ago #9
But... Cirsium 17 hrs ago #12
I'd do whatever I want with my little flags that I use to adorn my protest signs. Harker 17 hrs ago #6
Correct Cirsium 17 hrs ago #13
What are you going to do chief justice roberts ?? republianmushroom 17 hrs ago #7
He's going to say "please shit in my mouth again, Mr. President!" Orrex 17 hrs ago #15
Light em up. nt BootinUp 17 hrs ago #10
Nobody's going to jail for flag burning Fiendish Thingy 17 hrs ago #11
Bet? ruet 12 hrs ago #30
Okay, let me be more specific Fiendish Thingy 4 hrs ago #34
Oops.. ruet 11 hrs ago #31
Has he been sentenced to incarceration by a judge? Fiendish Thingy 4 hrs ago #35
What do you get for burning The Constitution? Marthe48 17 hrs ago #14
Re-elected. Harker 17 hrs ago #17
DUzy! 🥇🏆 littlemissmartypants 15 hrs ago #24
This message was self-deleted by its author GP6971 17 hrs ago #16
Question for Shitler Sane1 16 hrs ago #19
We enact laws by the king's fiat now? PSPS 16 hrs ago #20
Exactly. markodochartaigh 14 hrs ago #25
No need for Congress to make laws V850i 15 hrs ago #21
What if it only has 48 stars? Or is one of those ridiculous black and white ones for cops? progressoid 15 hrs ago #22
That isn't how Executive Orders work Bluetus 15 hrs ago #23
Is it against the law to wipe your ass with the Constitution? Martin Eden 14 hrs ago #26
id love to see a coupl dozen people start buring flags in front of the white house moonshinegnomie 14 hrs ago #27
What's the penalty for shitting on it? BurnDoubt 14 hrs ago #28
Anyone remember the days when bad and unconstitutional policy fujiyamasan 13 hrs ago #29
America is supposed to be a country of ideals, not flags, songs or pledges. Many people don't understand "ideals' twodogsbarking 6 hrs ago #32
He fondles and caresses American flags on his stages BigmanPigman 4 hrs ago #33

iemanja

(56,564 posts)
2. He imagines he can prosecute people in foreign countries
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 08:24 PM
17 hrs ago

The order says that those who burn an American flag, whether in the U.S. or other countries, will be subject to prosecution and penalties.

thesquanderer

(12,734 posts)
18. I suppose he can have "his" DOJ go after them if and when they return to the U.S....
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 09:34 PM
16 hrs ago

... though no law to prosecute them exists (yet).

Irish_Dem

(73,415 posts)
3. The Supreme Court might as well retire to their expensive billionaire paid for vacation homes.
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 08:26 PM
17 hrs ago

Plus all their retirement income and benefits.

Stop pretending to work for the people and the US Constitution.

Captain Zero

(8,305 posts)
5. A real American will test this pretty quick
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 08:29 PM
17 hrs ago

Right in front of the white house.
They should set up a straw statue of Trump holding a flag and then light the flag.

Harker

(16,750 posts)
6. I'd do whatever I want with my little flags that I use to adorn my protest signs.
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 08:30 PM
17 hrs ago

I would never burn anyone else's flag.

I thought that in some cases burning a flag was correct etiquette.

Cirsium

(2,812 posts)
13. Correct
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 08:55 PM
17 hrs ago

"I thought that in some cases burning a flag was correct etiquette."

Yes.

The flags that are no longer serviceable are presented to Legion commanders, who inspect them to make sure they should, in fact, be discarded. When it's agreed upon that they've reached their current worn state due to proper service of tribute, memory and love, a color guard presents the colors and a chaplain offers prayers.

As the crowd salutes, the flag detail dips the retired flags into kerosene and puts them on a rack over the fire. A bugler sounds "To the Colors."

https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/article/2206946/how-to-properly-dispose-of-worn-out-us-flags/

Orrex

(65,837 posts)
15. He's going to say "please shit in my mouth again, Mr. President!"
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 09:09 PM
17 hrs ago

You know, like he says every time.

Fiendish Thingy

(20,469 posts)
11. Nobody's going to jail for flag burning
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 08:41 PM
17 hrs ago

Judges impose sentences, and if no law was broken (and there is no law, only an executive order), there won’t even be a trial.

Fiendish Thingy

(20,469 posts)
34. Okay, let me be more specific
Tue Aug 26, 2025, 09:24 AM
4 hrs ago

Nobody is going to be indicted, tried, convicted or sentenced by a judge for violating a presidential executive order.

What Trump’s Brownshirt goons do is another matter..

Fiendish Thingy

(20,469 posts)
35. Has he been sentenced to incarceration by a judge?
Tue Aug 26, 2025, 09:27 AM
4 hrs ago

AFAIK, he hasn’t even been charged/indicted with violating a presidential executive order…because that isn’t a thing in the Justice system.

Response to iemanja (Original post)

Sane1

(171 posts)
19. Question for Shitler
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 09:37 PM
16 hrs ago

Is beating the crap out of a cop during the insurrection with an American flag mounted on wooden pole and used like a bat as bad as burning it??

PSPS

(14,839 posts)
20. We enact laws by the king's fiat now?
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 09:55 PM
16 hrs ago

This sideshow, solely to give the MAGA erections, is enough to knock epstein out of the news for a while.

markodochartaigh

(3,710 posts)
25. Exactly.
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 11:23 PM
14 hrs ago

This isn't about burning, or disrespecting, the US flag. This is about proving that the president's power is superior to the power of the supreme court.

V850i

(112 posts)
21. No need for Congress to make laws
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 11:11 PM
15 hrs ago

He apparently has that power as well now. No need for a Supreme Court either as they will just jump in and say how high? Why make them go through the process??

progressoid

(51,767 posts)
22. What if it only has 48 stars? Or is one of those ridiculous black and white ones for cops?
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 11:12 PM
15 hrs ago

Bluetus

(1,419 posts)
23. That isn't how Executive Orders work
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 11:12 PM
15 hrs ago

EOs are simply instructions to the people that work in any agencies in the executive branch. They don't apply to anybody else.

Trump can order DOJ lawyers to try to prosecute flag-burning cases. But they will be tried under the existing laws and Constitution. Nothing that Trump writes in an EO changes that, even if he uses the biggest Sharpie ever invented.

Martin Eden

(14,782 posts)
26. Is it against the law to wipe your ass with the Constitution?
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 11:23 PM
14 hrs ago

If so, Trump should be arrested.

moonshinegnomie

(3,568 posts)
27. id love to see a coupl dozen people start buring flags in front of the white house
Mon Aug 25, 2025, 11:33 PM
14 hrs ago

and in front of mar a lago and in front of every one of his golf courses

fujiyamasan

(578 posts)
29. Anyone remember the days when bad and unconstitutional policy
Tue Aug 26, 2025, 01:09 AM
13 hrs ago

Was simply the result of bad legislation? Ah how quaint…

Now it’s a one man decree. Next thing you know he’ll be naming the days of the week after his family like the former dictator of Turkmenistan (or another one of those bekki bekki …stans).

twodogsbarking

(15,211 posts)
32. America is supposed to be a country of ideals, not flags, songs or pledges. Many people don't understand "ideals'
Tue Aug 26, 2025, 07:34 AM
6 hrs ago

because the are MORONS, in red hats with one hand falling off.

BigmanPigman

(53,474 posts)
33. He fondles and caresses American flags on his stages
Tue Aug 26, 2025, 09:24 AM
4 hrs ago

Isn't THAT offensive? Maybe he is afraid his flag-wearing base will turn on him and burn their flags in protest.

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