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  • 2003-07-28 (xsd:date)
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  • Can the Texas Flag Fly at the Same Height as the U.S. Flag? (en)
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  • Several legends maintain that Texas is entitled to exercise certain privileges not granted to other states due to its status as a quasi-independent republic prior to its admission to the United States. We've discussed a few of these legends on another page, and here we tackle yet another one: the claim that Texas (and only Texas) is permitted by federal law to fly its state flag at the same height as the U.S. national flag: We must begin by pointing out the nature of the laws that apply to the display of the U.S. national flag. Although the federal government has an established flag code, the provisions of that code are codifications of tradition and etiquette regarding how, when, and where national and state flags should be displayed, and how one should act in order to show proper respect for those flags. U.S. law has no provisions for enforcing the flag code or punishing violators thereof, so the code is essentially a collection of advisory guidelines about how flags should be displayed and respected. (In the words of the federal government: The Flag Code does not prescribe any penalties for non-compliance nor does it include any enforcement provisions, rather it functions simply as a guide for voluntary civilian compliance.) The federal flag code does not authorize the government to dispatch G-men or police to arrest persons who allow their flags to touch the ground, fly them at the wrong heights, display them upside-down or backwards, or fail to destroy old flags in a dignified way. The federal flag code prescribes that when the U.S. national flag is flown along with state flags, the national flag should be given the position of superior prominence. This means that: So, as long as other positional guidelines of the flag code are observed, any single state flag may be flown at the same height as the U.S. national flag (although the state flag may optionally be flown at a lower height as a show of deference to the national flag). Nothing in the federal flag code specifies exceptions for the Texas flag or any other state flag, nor does Texas' own flag code create or acknowledge any such exceptions. In fact, the Texas state flag code follows the federal flag code in all respects where the flying of the national flag and the Texas state flag together are concerned: While the Lone Star flag may be special to Texans, (en)
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