Bob Barr

Don't Lower Flag in Lieu of Flowers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
May 9, 2007

It used to be that the American flag was lowered to half-staff only when a president or other nationally important person died. In fact, federal law specifies precisely that. The United States Code has, since 1923, provided that the flag is to be lowered for differing lengths of time, upon the death of a current or former president or vice president, Supreme Court justice, senator, U.S. representative, head of a federal department, or governor. The only other occasions specified by law on which Old Glory must be lowered to half-staff are until noon on Memorial Day and Peace Officers Memorial Day.

By adhering to this limited set of circumstances under which our flag is not to be flown at full staff and towering over all state and lesser flags, the law helps ensure that when the flag is in fact lowered, it truly signifies a very special, nationally important event to be noted and remembered.

Unfortunately, that portion of the U.S. Code dealing with display of the flag contains a catch-all provision allowing a president to issue proclamations to change the "rules and customs" under which the flag is displayed. In recent years, as presidents have learned the political value of employing all manner of symbols to illustrate their compassion or concern for an event, they have taken to ordering the flag to half-staff in circumstances far removed from those contemplated in the decades-old law.

Thus, the flag several times has been lowered in recent years to "honor" events or victims rather than noteworthy public figures. The Stars and Stripes has been lowered in response to terrorist attacks in Oklahoma City in 1995 and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It was lowered in 2003 following the loss of space shuttle Columbia, and two years later following Hurricane Katrina. And, while the federal law does imply the flag may be lowered following the death of "foreign dignitaries" (a provision used after the death of Pope John Paul II), President Bush stretched this authority beyond reason in late 2004 when he ordered it lowered in remembrance of the thousands killed by the Indian Ocean tsunami in Indonesia and other countries. Most recently, President Bush ordered the flag lowered following the mass murder at Virginia Tech.

Even though the law provides for governors to lower the flags in their states following the death of "a present or former official of the government of [the] state," there is so little understanding of—or regard for—the protocol for flag-lowering, that mayors are now getting in on the act. For example, the mayor of Pittsfield, Mass., recently ordered the flag lowered following the death of a Navy Blue Angel pilot who had been born in the town. Flags are being lowered now by governors not only in reaction to a death or deaths, but on the anniversary of a tragedy, such as the 1999 Columbine school shootings.

Private citizens, including heads of sports teams, also are taking it on themselves to order the lowering of flags at sports stadiums following the death not of a national political leader, but of football players. Bob Harlan, president of the Green Bay Packers, did just that following the 2004 death of former player Reggie White.

Some governors are ordering flags flown at half-staff in their states to honor service members killed in Iraq; others are not. Every service member killed in the line of duty is not honored thus (nor should be); perhaps it is a function of the circumstances under which they are killed, or the country in which they lost their lives. But the lack of uniformity and proper respect for protocol is disturbing.

Lowering the flag of the United States of America is not an act that should be taken lightly. It is supposed to reflect the honor due at the time of their death of a public figure who accomplished something of truly national significance; not a person, however worthy otherwise, who is simply a victim, or whose accomplishments are more local and civilian in nature.

Falling as we have into the habit of lowering and raising the flag for a myriad of events with no common thread, and for purposes far removed from the intent and historical basis of the protocol reflected in the law, cheapens greatly the significance of the action. A president who constantly reminds us he is the "commander in chief," certainly should understand that. Apparently, he needs a refresher course in flag protocol. And so do many of his fellow citizens.

Bob Barr occupies the 21st Century Liberties Chair for Freedom and Privacy at the American Conservative Union Foundation.