New York, New York / USA - July 4th 20: The Revolution Club stood outside of the Trump building in Columbus Circle to demonstrated their anger for Donald Trump and his leadership. (Photo credit: Kevin RC Wilson / Shutterstock)
President Donald Trump's Justice Department is dropping charges against a man who burned the American flag outside the White House last year.
Burning the American flag has long been recognized by the Supreme Court as protected political speech under the First Amendment.
Despite this, criminalizing "flag desecration" is a perennial goal of hardcore cultural conservatives, and is frequently discussed on Fox News. Trump signed an executive order last year directing law enforcement to investigate and prosecute flag burners using any workaround means necessary.
According to CBS News, "Jan Carey was facing two misdemeanor criminal counts in Washington, D.C., federal court. Neither charge focused on the fact that he burned a flag, specifically: One of the counts was for lighting a fire 'not in a designated area and receptacle,' and another was for lighting a fire 'in a manner that threatened, caused damage to, and resulted in the burning of property, real property, and park resources.'"
Had Carey been convicted, he faced at most six months in jail.
Carey, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, had burned the flag in front of the White House specifically to challenge the legality of that executive order, saying to WUSA9 that "[I] immediately thought I need to go burn a flag in front of the White House and let's put this to the test."