S.C. governor orders flags at full staff during inauguration
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC/AP) - South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order Wednesday afternoon to temporarily raise flags on Monday in honor of the inauguration of Donald Trump.
McMaster ordered the flags lowered to half-staff for 30 days on Dec. 30 following the death of former President Jimmy Carter. But McMaster’s order calls for the flags on the South Carolina State Capitol and other state buildings be raised to full-staff at sunrise on Monday in recognition of Trump’s inauguration.
McMaster acknowledged in the order that governors across the country have “similarly acknowledged the simultaneous significance of recognizing Inauguration Day and appropriately honoring the life and legacy of President Carter” and have issued similar orders.
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On Jan. 3, Trump posted on social media that “Democrats are all ‘giddy’” about the notion that flags will be lowered when he takes office as president.
“Nobody wants to see this,” Trump wrote. He added that “no American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out.”
Asked about Trump’s post at a briefing earlier this month, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would not consider reversing or reevaluating the half-staff plans.
The U.S. flag code lays out parameters for lowering the U.S. flag to half-staff, including a 30-day period for current or former presidents to cover flags at federal government buildings and their grounds, as well as at U.S. embassies and other facilities abroad, including military installations and vessels.
Flags can be lowered to commemorate the deaths of other officials, including the vice president, Supreme Court justices and of Congress, although those periods aren’t as long.
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Flags can also be ordered lowered in other circumstances, including a national tragedy or on Memorial Day.
Since U.S. flag code states that no flag should fly higher than the American flag on the same pole or nearby, state flags get lowered during those periods, too.
McMaster noted in his order that courts have recognized that a statute like Chapter 1 of Title 4 of the United States Code, commonly regarded as the “Flag Code,” “may not cover every circumstance,” and that the code provides that “the flag should be displayed on all days” but “especially” on Inauguration Day.
McMaster’s executive order requires that the flags return to half-staff in tribute to Carter at sundown on Monday after Trump is sworn in as the nation’s 47th president.
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