Is it illegal to display the U.S. flag upside down?

The upside-down flag, once a signal of distress for sailors, has been used as a form of protest for several decades.

In 2024, the symbolism of an upside-down American flag gained wide attention after the New York Times reported it was flown outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Alito said his wife briefly flew the flag amid a dispute with neighbors and he had no part in it.

Before the 2024 presidential election, the upside-down flag had also come to represent the “Stop the Steal” movement, which falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen.

More recently, VERIFY reader Janet and a poster on Reddit asked if it was illegal to fly an American flag upside down.

Is it illegal to display the U.S. flag upside down?

No, it is not illegal to display the U.S. flag upside down.

Flying the American flag upside down, barring an emergency, goes against the U.S. flag code, but it’s not illegal to do so.

The flag code, which regulates how private citizens should use and display the American flag, became federal law in 1942. It says, in part, that “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.”

But the flag code’s language is suggestive and not legally enforceable, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

The Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University and CRS both say the Supreme Court has struck down multiple attempts by states to punish flag disparagement or disrespectful flag displays. The Court ruled that such efforts violate free speech protections guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

For example, in 1990, the Court ruled that it was an unconstitutional infringement on free speech to prosecute someone for failing to follow the Flag Code. The case reaffirmed a previous ruling on citizens’ First Amendment right to burn the U.S. flag.

The flag code also includes other guidelines, such as never carrying the flag flat or horizontally, and not displaying its stars and stripes on clothing. These common practices also violate the code but carry no legal consequences.

This story was reported in collaboration with Fort Worth Report, a member of the Gigafact network, and was originally reported by Keyla Holmes. The Associated Press contributed to this report.