No. The thin blue line flag does not violate the U.S. Flag Code, and asking whether it does misses two things at once: the flag isn’t legally the American flag, and the Flag Code has no enforcement power over anyone anyway. Both points are independent, and either one is enough to end the argument.
What the Flag Code Actually Says
The U.S. Flag Code sits in Title 4, Chapter 1 of the United States Code and describes customs for displaying and handling the American flag. The provision people point to in this debate is Section 8(g): “The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.”1GovInfo. 4 U.S.C. § 8 – Respect for Flag The argument goes that a black-and-white American flag with a blue stripe adds a “mark” or “design” to the flag and therefore breaks the rule.
That reading assumes the thing being modified is a U.S. flag. It isn’t.
The Thin Blue Line Flag Isn’t the U.S. Flag
The Flag Code governs the flag of the United States as defined by federal law. Under 4 U.S.C. § 1, the American flag “shall be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag shall be” white stars on a blue field.2Cornell Law Institute. 4 U.S.C. § 1 – Flag of the United States Executive Order 10834, signed by President Eisenhower in 1959, further specified the flag’s proportions, colors, and star arrangement.3The American Presidency Project. Executive Order 10834 – The Flag of the United States
The thin blue line flag has none of that. Its stripes are black and white, not red and white. The field behind its stars is black, not blue. And it carries a single horizontal blue stripe in the middle. It doesn’t match the statutory definition, so the Flag Code’s rules about how to treat the flag don’t reach it.
Peter Ansoff, president of the North American Vexillological Association, put it plainly: the design is “not technically an American flag” under the Flag Code. “It looks a little bit like it, but it’s not an American flag as far as the flag code is concerned.” PolitiFact rated the claim that the flag violates the code as False.4PolitiFact. No, the Black-and-White Flag for Police Solidarity Does Not Violate Flag Code
The Flag Code Has No Penalties
Set the definition question aside and the answer still doesn’t change. The Flag Code is “merely declaratory and advisory,” prescribes no penalties for non-compliance, and includes no enforcement mechanism.5Every CRS Report. The United States Flag: Federal Law Relating to Display and Associated Questions No federal agency has authority to sanction civilians for how they handle a flag. The word running through the code is “should,” not “shall” or “must.” It’s a guide to voluntary etiquette, not a rulebook a court could enforce.
A separate statute, 18 U.S.C. § 700, once made it a federal crime to knowingly mutilate, deface, or burn a U.S. flag, punishable by a fine or up to a year in prison.6Cornell Law Institute. 18 U.S.C. § 700 – Desecration of the Flag of the United States The Supreme Court struck it down.
The First Amendment Would Protect the Display Anyway
In Texas v. Johnson (1989), the Supreme Court held 5–4 that burning an American flag during a political protest is expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment. Gregory Lee Johnson had burned a flag outside Dallas City Hall during the 1984 Republican National Convention. He was convicted under a Texas statute and sentenced to a year in prison plus a $2,000 fine. The Court reversed, holding that the government “may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”7Justia. Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397
Congress tried again with the Flag Protection Act of 1989. In United States v. Eichman (1990), the Court struck that law down by the same 5–4 margin, finding that the government’s interest in the flag’s “physical integrity” was inseparable from suppressing expression.8Justia. United States v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 The law let a person burn a worn flag during a disposal ceremony while criminalizing the same act at a protest, which exposed its content-based nature.9Oyez. United States v. Eichman
If burning an actual American flag can’t be punished, displaying a derivative design with different colors is nowhere near the line.
The “Title 36” Citation Circulating Online Is Outdated
Social media posts making the violation claim often cite “Section 176, Title 36” of the U.S. Code. That citation is wrong. The Flag Code was originally in Title 36 but was recodified in 1998 to Title 4, Section 8. Ansoff has pointed to the outdated citation as a sign that the claim gets passed around without anyone checking the current law.4PolitiFact. No, the Black-and-White Flag for Police Solidarity Does Not Violate Flag Code Some versions also claim the code bans “discoloration” of the flag. It doesn’t. That word isn’t in the code.
Where the Real Legal Fights Actually Are
The lawsuits and policy fights over the thin blue line flag have nothing to do with the Flag Code. They involve government employers restricting what their employees can display, and the First Amendment questions that follow.
Several agencies have imposed restrictions. In January 2021, University of Wisconsin–Madison Police Chief Kristen Roman banned officers from displaying thin blue line imagery on duty, saying the symbol had been “co-opted” by people with “hateful ideologies.” The ban covered flags, pins, bracelets, decals, and coffee mugs, with exceptions for line-of-duty death observances.10NBC News. Police Chief Bans Thin Blue Line Imagery In January 2023, LAPD Chief Michel Moore barred the flag from department lobbies, public events, and uniforms, calling it “divisive” while acknowledging he didn’t personally view it that way. Officers could still display it on personal property.11WWLP. LAPD Chief Bans Public Displays of Thin Blue Line Flag In May 2020, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott prohibited officers from wearing face masks featuring the flag.12The Marshall Project. The Short, Fraught History of the Thin Blue Line American Flag
Not every ban has held up. In Springfield Township, Pennsylvania, commissioners asked the local police union to drop the thin blue line flag from its logo, even offering $10,000 from a private donor to cover the redesign. The union refused. In October 2022, the township issued a cease-and-desist letter and then enacted a policy barring employees from displaying the flag on township property, vehicles, and personal items brought into township buildings.13WHYY. Springfield Township Thin Blue Line Flag Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
In November 2023, U.S. District Judge Karen Marston struck the ban down as a First Amendment violation, writing that “the First Amendment protects speech even when it is considered ‘offensive'” and that the township had failed to show “real, not conjectural, harm” from the display.13WHYY. Springfield Township Thin Blue Line Flag Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
In July 2024, the Jersey City Police Superior Officers Association filed a federal lawsuit against the city after being denied permission to fly the thin blue line flag during a May 2024 ceremony honoring fallen officers. The union alleged First and Fourteenth Amendment violations and content-based regulation of speech. The city responded that it had already held a separate flag-raising during the same Police Week and doesn’t typically permit two events for the same cause in one week.14NJ.com. Jersey City Police Superiors Union Sues City Over Thin Blue Line Flag
Courts evaluate these disputes under the framework from Pickering v. Board of Education (1968) and Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006). If a government employee speaks as a citizen on a matter of public concern, the employer can restrict the speech only by showing it disrupts operations, discipline, or the agency’s public mission. Speech made pursuant to official duties generally gets no First Amendment protection at all.15Cornell Law Institute. Pickering Balancing Test for Government Employee Speech16Constitution Annotated, Congress.gov. Government Employee Speech Outcomes turn on the facts of each dispute, not on the Flag Code.
So the short answer to the Flag Code question is that it doesn’t apply, it wouldn’t matter if it did, and the constitutional protection for expressive displays would settle it either way. The actual legal action over the thin blue line flag is happening somewhere else entirely: in federal courts weighing what a government employer can and can’t tell its workers to take off the wall.