President Trump has long opposed flag burning as a form of protest, and now he's directing the Justice Department to prioritize prosecutions of people who set the American flag on fire.

On Monday, Trump signed an executive order instructing the attorney general to pursue cases against people who "incite violence or otherwise violate our laws while desecrating this symbol of our country."

When Trump signed the order, he said that there are a slew of ways people can protest the government. "But when you burn the American flag, it incites riots at levels that we've never seen before. People go crazy," he said.

Free speech attorneys note that the Supreme Court has ruled on multiple occasions that flag burning is protected by the First Amendment and say Trump's effort runs afoul

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