Flag of the United States

By the act entitled, “An act to establish the flag of the United States,” passed April 4, 1818, 3 Story’s L. U. S., 1667, it is enacted: § 1. That from and after the fourth day of July next, the flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white: that the union be twenty stars, white in a blue field. § 2. That, on the admission of every new state into the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag; and that such addition shall take effect on the fourth day of July the next succeeding such admission. Cf. Title 4 U.S.C. § 1; 68 Am.Jur.2d § 247 (Flag, Salute and Pledge of Allegiance in Schools); Hostility; Neutral property; Standard; Visit; Army Reg. 840-10 Ch. 8; 36 U.S.C. Ch. 10 § 176(g); British East India Company (Betsy Ross Flag);  

Executive Order 10834, Aug. 21, 1959 (The flag of the United States) (The provisions of Executive Order 10834 of Aug. 21, 1959, appear at 24 FR 6865, 3 CFR, 1959-1963 Comp., p. 367, unless otherwise noted.);

Sec. 3. Use of flag for advertising purposes; … shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $100 or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the court. http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/codification/executive_order/10834.html …http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=59276

34 Op.Atty.Gen. 483 (1925) (“Placing of fringe on the national flag, the dimensions of the flag, and arrangement of the stars are matters of detail not controlled by statute, but within the discretion of the President as Commander-In-Chief of the Army and Navy.”);

THE FLAG CODE: Title 36, U.S.C., Chapter 10 As amended by P.L. 344, 94th Congress Approved July 7, 1976
§ 176. Respect for flag: No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor. (a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property. http://www.freewebz.com/jeffhead/liberty/flagdistress.htm

Executive Order No. 10834, August 21, 1959, 24 F.R. 6865: The flag of the United States: Sec. 3.Use of flag for advertising purposes; … shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $100 or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the court.

Dariano v. Morgan Hill Unified School District

, No. 11-17858 (9th Cir. 02/27/2014) (In a civil rights suit brought by plaintiff-high school students who were asked to remove clothing bearing images of the American flag after school officials learned of threats of race-related violence during a school-sanctioned celebration of Cinco de Mayo, the district court’s grant of summary judgment to defendant-assistant principal and denial of summary judgment to plaintiffs are affirmed, where: 1) school officials anticipated violence or substantial disruption of or material interference with school activities, and their response was tailored to the circumstances; and 2) school officials did not violate the students’ rights to freedom of expression, due process, or equal protection.);http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2014/02/27/11-17858.pdf

Brown v. California Department of Transportation, 2003 WL 1090164 (9th Cir. Mar. 13, 2003) (The Ninth Circuit has ruled that CalTrans may not prohibit banners questioning war on highway overpasses when it allows flags to be displayed there.);

Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989) (The Supreme Court held that burning the flag was a protected form of symbolic political speech.); http://laws.findlaw.com/us/491/397.html

Smith v. Gofuen, 415 U.S. 566 (1974) (Appellee, for wearing a small United States flag sewn to the seat of his trousers, was convicted of violating the provision of the Massachusetts flag-misuse statute that subjects to criminal liability anyone who “publicly . . . treats contemptuously the flag of the United States . . . .” The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed. The District Court in appellee’s habeas corpus action found the “treats contemptuously” phrase of the statute unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. The Court of Appeals affirmed. Held: 1. The challenged statutory language, which had received no narrowing state court interpretation, is void for vagueness under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, since by failing to draw reasonably clear lines between the kinds of nonceremonial treatment of the flag that are criminal and those that are not it does not provide adequate warning of forbidden conduct and sets forth a standard so indefinite that police, court, and jury are free to react to nothing more than their own preferences for treatment of the flag. Pp. 572-576, 578.); http://laws.findlaw.com/us/415/566.html

Zavilla v. Masse, 112 Colo. 183, 147 P.2d 823, 825 (Opinion of members of religious sect that it was a violation of one of God’s commandments to salute the national flag was, in a constitutional sense, a “religious opinion”.);

State v. Davis, 120 P.2d 808, 810, 58 Ariz. 444 (A belief by defendants, who were members of a religious sect known as Jehovah’s Witnesses, that the act of saluting the flag would violate the command of God was an exercise of “religion” as protected by First Amendment to Federal Constitution.);

Bolling v. Superior Court for Clallam County, 16 Wash. 2d 373, 133 P.2d 803, 808, 809, 810 (Enforcement against Jehovah’s Witness of statute requiring school children to salute and pledge allegiance to the United States flag violated state constitutional guarantee of “religious liberty”.);

West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 630, 87 L.Ed. 1628 (1943) (Appellees, citizens of the United States and of West Virginia, brought suit in the United States District Court for themselves and others similarly situated asking its injunction to restrain enforcement of these laws and regulations against Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Witnesses are an unincorporated body teaching that the obligation imposed by law of God is superior to that of laws enacted by temporal government. Their religious beliefs include a literal version of Exodus, Chapter 20, verses 4 and 5, which says: ‘Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them.’ They consider that the flag is an ‘image’ within this command. For this reason they refuse to salute it.); http://laws.findlaw.com/us/319/624.html