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Page Number: 12.0

8 

SHURTLEFF v. BOSTON 

Opinion of the Court 

the land of the free—had survived the British attack on Bal-
timore  Harbor.    See  C.  Lineberry,  The  Story  Behind  the
Star  Spangled  Banner,  Smithsonian  Magazine  (Mar.  1,
2007).  No less familiar, a flag at halfstaff tells us that the 
government is paying its “respect to th[e] memory” of some-
one  who  has  died.  4  U. S. C.  §7(m).    (Congress  has  ex-
plained, across several sections of the U. S. Code, the mean-
ing  we  should  take  from  the  “position,”  “manner,”  “time,” 
and “occasions” of the American flag’s display.  §§6, 7.)  And 
the  presence  of  the  Royal  Standard  flying  from  Windsor 
Castle’s Round Tower says the Queen is home.  See Windsor 
Castle  Today,  Royal  Collection  Trust,  www.rct.uk/visit/
windsor-castle/windsor-castle-today.

The  flying  of  a  flag  other  than  a  government’s  own  can
also convey a governmental message.  A foreign flag outside
Blair House, across the street from the White House, sig-
nals that a foreign leader is visiting and the residence has
“becom[e] a de facto diplomatic mission of the guest’s home 
nation.”  M. French, United States Protocol: The Guide to 
Official Diplomatic Etiquette 298 (2010).  And, according to 
international custom, when flags of two or more nations are 
displayed together, they cannot be flown one nation above
the other “in time of peace.”  4 U. S. C. §7(g).

Keeping with this tradition, flags on Boston’s City  Hall
Plaza usually convey the city’s messages.  On a typical day,
the American flag, the Massachusetts flag, and the City of
Boston’s flag wave from three flagpoles.  Boston’s flag, when
flying there at full mast, symbolizes the city.  When flying
at halfstaff, it conveys a community message of sympathy 
or somber remembrance.  When displayed at other public 
buildings, it marks the mayor’s presence.  See Symbols of 
Boston.  The city also sometimes conveys a message by re-
placing its flag with another.  When Boston’s mayor lost a
bet with Montreal’s about whose hockey team would win a 
playoff  series,  Boston,  duty-bound  in  defeat,  hoisted  the
Canadiens’ banner.  See Tr. of Oral Arg. 54–55.