Recently, Congress passed and Bush signed HR 42, putting into law the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005. The short and straight forward text of the new law may be found here. This is practically the same language introduced in the Oklahoma legislature a couple of sessions ago that should have passed but didn't.
In essence, the flag freedom act protects an American's liberty to display the American flag on their private property within a community association except for a couple of limited exceptions. First, the display must comport with the United States Code pertaining to the flag display. Second, a community association may limit flag displays if such limitation is a) reasonable, and b) furthers a substantial interest of the community association. Presumably, state law may provide more but not less freedom to display the flag. The Act contains a definitions section tied to Section 528 of the Internal Revenue Code, of which every board member of an Oklahoma community association should be familiar.
Comments