President Donald Trump has followed through on a subject he raised during his 2024 campaign, issuing an executive order to prosecute those who set the American flag on fire. While a far cry from the jurisprudence of the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia , it's also a threat to loosen free speech protections that benefited Trump himself in the aftermath of Jan. 6 and during his reelection campaign.

In the publicized executive order , Trump stated that because the flag is "a special symbol in our national life" the desecration thereof is a "uniquely offensive and provocative" act that "may incite violence and riot."

Next, the order paid limited attention to the U.S. Supreme Court's 1989 ruling in Texas v. Johnson , which held that Gregory "Joey" Lee Johnson's criminal conviction for

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