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A comment on New "Prosecuting Burning of the American Flag" EO Would Violate First Amendment.

Re:New "Prosecuting Burning of the American Flag" EO Would V... by ralferoo on Tuesday August 26, 2025 @09:10AM (#45026045)
I'm sure I remember reading last time this discussion came up that burning the flag is the only government approved way of disposing of a damaged US flag.

Disclaimer: I'm from the UK, not USA, so I could well be wrong.

EDIT: this article, which describes ceremonial flag burning ceremonies performed by veterans [1] contains a link to the flag code [2] of which section 8(k) states: The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.

[1] https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/article/2...

[2] https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2011-title4/html/...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:New "Prosecuting Burning of the American Flag" EO Would V... by delichon on Tuesday August 26, 2025 @10:30AM (#45027073)
Burning a flag for disposal rather than desecration does not violate the order.

  ...it covers desecration that violates "applicable, content-neutral laws, while causing harm unrelated to expression, consistent with the First Amendment."
I think that this order is not content neutral, and should be considered dead on arrival. But it isn't a general order against any US flag burning.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:New "Prosecuting Burning of the American Flag" EO Would V... by Palomides on Tuesday August 26, 2025 @09:30AM (#45026294)
pointing this out as some kind of gotcha entirely misses the point
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:New "Prosecuting Burning of the American Flag" EO Would V... by ralferoo on Tuesday August 26, 2025 @10:57AM (#45027500)
It wasn't intended as "some kind of gotcha", it's an observation that the order trying to make burning the flag illegal is in direct contradiction with the government's own recommendation on the preferred method to dispose of a flag. Presumably the outcome is that one or the other will need to change.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:New "Prosecuting Burning of the American Flag" EO Would V... by Palomides on Tuesday August 26, 2025 @11:49AM (#45028212)
the actual body of the order refers to acts of "desecration" without specifying their exact nature, so no, there isn't even that level of conflict
[ Parent | on HN ]