At Marvin Ridge High School in Union County, North Carolina, a senior named Luke simply wanted to paint the American flag on his parking space. Good for Luke, who, according to his mother, is preparing to enlist in the U.S. military. Luke made the request because the school allows seniors to personalize their spots. What should have been an unremarkable expression of patriotism instead became a revealing controversy.
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According to reports, including a post by Union County Commissioner Melissa Merrell (herself a former chair of the county school board) and statements from Luke’s mom, the school’s initial denial did not cite the U.S. Flag Code. The design was rejected because administrators viewed the American flag as potentially “political” or possibly “offensive.” The controversy created considerable media and social media attention. Only after pushback did the school retreat to a new justification: their claim that the Flag Code supposedly forbids it.
That second excuse is dead wrong.
While some well-intentioned patriots might express the opinion that a depiction of the flag should not be painted on a parking lot, or driven on, the U.S. Flag Code itself, codified at 4 U.S.C. §§ 1–10, is primarily a set of advisory guidelines for the respectful treatment of the physical flag of the United States — the actual cloth (or other material) object that is flown, carried, or draped. Section 8, the core “Respect for flag” provision, repeatedly refers to “the flag” as a tangible item that should not touch the ground, be used as apparel or drapery, have marks placed upon it, or be employed for advertising. These rules govern how one handles the real flag. The Code does not ban artistic depictions, paintings, or images of the flag on pavement, walls, vehicles, or clothing.
Painting a representation of the flag on a parking space is not “the flag” touching the ground. It is an image. One can express an opinion not liking it, but such an opinion is not the law. The Flag Code has never been interpreted to outlaw murals, stadium paintings, T-shirts, or student artwork depicting Old Glory. The school’s later reliance on the Code was a misguided, transparent backtrack — an attempt to launder an initial political judgment (that the American flag might be “offensive” or “political”) behind a veneer of legal authority that does not exist — a shallow shot of excuse-making desperation that missed the bullseye by a mile.
This local episode, however, points to a far larger and more enduring national embarrassment written into the Flag Code, a cancer that has festered within the Code, largely unnoticed by most Americans.
Buried in 4 U.S.C. § 7(c) is a proviso that should never have been written in the first place, and certainly never been allowed to stand. After stating the general rule that no other flag may be displayed equal to, above, or in a position of superior prominence to the flag of the United States anywhere in this country, the Code carves out an explicit and inexcusable exception: “nothing shall make unlawful the practice of displaying the flag of the United Nations in a position of superior prominence or honor, and other national flags in positions of equal prominence, with the American flag — at the headquarters of the United Nations.”
Read that again. Federal law, stemming from congressional action in which Congress obviously lost its collective mind, formally acknowledges that it is acceptable, in one corner of American soil, for the flag of a globalist international organization to fly higher than the Stars and Stripes, and for the flags of other nations to stand as equals with our own.
What is completely unacceptable is that Congress wrote into the United States Flag Code an explicit legal exception that permits the United Nations flag to fly in a position of superior prominence to the American flag. That provision — the “Provided, That…” language in 4 U.S.C. § 7(c) — constitutes an official statutory blessing of an arrangement that should never have been tolerated on American soil.
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This provision must be repealed entirely. No exception. No carve-out. No delay. No legal permission of any kind for any flag, and especially not a United Nations flag, to fly higher than the Stars and Stripes.
If “America First” is to mean anything, Congress must strike that provision from the Flag Code and apologize — first to our veterans and service members, and then to the American people –forever allowing it to exist.
The kids at Marvin Ridge High School understood something their administrators briefly forgot: the American flag is not “political.” Whether depicted on a high school parking space, displayed on the side of a building, worn as a lapel pin, or flying from a staff, the symbol of that flag carries the power and spirit of American freedom. It represents the sacrifices of those who defended it and the enduring promise of liberty that defines this nation.
However, it was not only a handful of bureaucratic administrators at Marvin Ridge who temporarily lost sight of that truth. The United States Congress itself failed when it wrote into federal law any acknowledgment — under any circumstances — that it is acceptable for another flag, and especially the flag of the United Nations, to be displayed above Old Glory.
As for the U.N., if it insists on displaying its ineffectual, light-blue excuse of a “flag” above Old Glory, I say let’s see how long that practice lasts without a cent of American money. The very notion of Congress allowing this disgusting provision into law is an insult to the memory of every American soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine who died for this country.
The Marvin Ridge administrators eventually came to their senses and corrected their mistake. Now it is time for Congress, in honor of the republic’s 250th birthday, to do the same.
Repeal the exception in 4 U.S.C. § 7(c). No flag above the American flag. Not now. Not ever.
Don Brown is a former Navy Judge Advocate who served at the Pentagon. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the international law program at the Naval War College, he is a nationally bestselling author of 16 books and commentator on national security, military justice, and foreign policy. He previously served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney and was a candidate for the United States Senate from North Carolina.