HOUSTON — Flags flew at half-staff around the country Tuesday in honor of the five newspaper employees murdered in Maryland last week.
President Trump was criticized for initially denying a request to lower the flags, but the White House reversed the decision.
In cases like these, what’s the protocol? Who gets to decide when to lower flags and why?
“The president has the sole authority to be able to make those recommendations and to execute that,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston.
Rottinghaus says that includes when and how long to keep the American flag at half-staff.
“Typically, the nature of the tragedy will dictate how long it is left down,” he says.
Because state and local flags aren’t allowed to fly above the American flag, they get lowered, too.
The U.S. Flag Code says the American flag should fly half-mast for part of Memorial Day, and by the president’s order after the death of government officials.
Historically, it’s been ordered lowered after the death of public figures, most recently, former First Lady Barbara Bush.
“One opportunity for the President to be able to really connect to the American people is through the use of the flag,” said Rottinghaus, who says usage of the flag as a tool to rally the public increased during the Reagan administration.
He also agrees with Mark Jones, Fellow in Political Science at Rice University’s Baker Institute, that the Obama administration used lowering the flag to spark a discussion about current events in the United States.
“It began to be used for acts of civil violence like school shootings,” said Jones. “Up to the point that during the end of the Obama administration, there was as many as 50 or 60 proclamations a year.”
Jones says any institution flying the flag is supposed to follow the President’s order.
“However, there is no actual penalty for it because that would be a violation of an individual’s First Amendment rights,” said Jones.
Governors and mayors can order the lowering of flags of their state or city.