The United States Flag Code
Title 4 United States Code
The US Flag: Time and Occasions for Display
- (a) It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.
- (b) The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.
- (c) The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except when an all-weather flag is displayed.
- (d) The flag should be displayed on all days, especially on New Year's Day, January 1; Inauguration Day, January 20; Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, third Monday in January; Lincoln's Birthday, February 12; Washington’s Birthday, third Monday in February; Easter Sunday; Mother's Day, second Sunday in May; Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May; Memorial Day (half-staff until noon), the last Monday in May; Flag Day, June 14; Father's Day, third Sunday in June; Independence Day, July 4; National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day, July 27; Labor Day, first Monday in September; Constitution Day, September 17; Columbus Day, second Monday in October; Navy Day, October 27; Veterans Day, November 11; Thanksgiving Day, fourth Thursday in November; Christmas Day, December 25; and such other days as may be proclaimed by the President of the United States; the birthdays of States (Their date of admission to the Union); and on State holidays.
- (e) The flag should be displayed daily on or near the main administration building of every public institution.
- (f) The flag should be displayed in or near every polling place on election days.
- (g) The flag should be displayed during school days in or near every schoolhouse.
