{"id":900213,"date":"2026-10-30T19:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T19:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/900213\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T19:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T19:02:12","slug":"fact-check-team-what-are-the-rules-for-standing-during-the-national-anthem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/900213\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact Check Team: What are the rules for standing during the national anthem?"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 The national anthem is back at the center of a political debate after the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries drew attention for leaving the court before the anthem during the WNBA Finals.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has also weighed in, raising questions about what athletes are required to do during the anthem and whether they can face consequences for refusing to stand.<\/p>\n

But the rules vary by sports league, and federal law does not establish a general criminal penalty for refusing to stand.<\/p>\n

Do sports leagues require players to stand for the national anthem?<\/p>\n

The NBA has a written rule <\/a>requiring players, coaches and trainers to stand in a dignified posture during the national anthem, according to the league’s official rules.<\/p>\n

\"GLENDALE,<\/p>\n

GLENDALE, ARIZONA – OCTOBER 24: Glendale Mayor Jerry P. Weiers, Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Cindy Biggs and Co-chair of Assyrian-American Republican coalition and President of Assyrians for Justice Sam Darmo stand for the singing of the national anthem during the 7th Annual Assyrian Festival at Saint Peter Cathedral on October 24, 2026 in Glendale, Arizona. Biggs will face incumbent Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs on Nov. 3. (Photo by Rebecca Noble\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The NFL adopted a national anthem policy in 2018 requiring personnel on the field to stand during the anthem or remain in the locker room. The league later suspended enforcement of the policy under an agreement with the players’ union.<\/p>\n

The WNBA<\/a> also has a written protocol, although enforcement has varied over time. Teams have made different decisions about anthem participation.<\/p>\n

Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League do not have comparable league-wide anthem-standing requirements identified in the rulebooks cited in historical reporting.<\/p>\n

The existence of a written policy does not necessarily mean a player will face discipline for violating it. The consequences depend on the specific league’s rules, enforcement practices and any applicable agreements with players’ unions.<\/p>\n

What does federal law say about standing for the national anthem?<\/p>\n

Federal law addresses conduct<\/a> during the national anthem in Title 36, Section 301 of the U.S. Code.<\/p>\n

The provision says that when the flag is displayed during the anthem, people present should stand at attention and face the flag, with their right hand over their heart. It also describes conduct for people in uniform and members of the armed forces.<\/p>\n

However, the law does not itself establish a general criminal penalty for refusing to stand.<\/p>\n

That distinction matters: a law describing expected conduct is not necessarily the same as a requirement backed by criminal punishment.<\/p>\n

Can schools require students to stand?<\/p>\n

Public-school students have First Amendment protections<\/a> that can limit a school’s ability to compel participation in patriotic expression.<\/p>\n

In West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1943 that public schools could not force students to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.<\/p>\n

That precedent is relevant to disputes over compelled patriotic expression, although the legal outcome of a particular school dispute depends on the circumstances and the actions taken by school officials.<\/p>\n

National anthem policies differ across professional sports leagues, and written rules do not automatically establish how violations will be handled.<\/p>\n

Federal law describes how people should conduct themselves during the anthem, but it does not create a general criminal penalty for refusing to stand.<\/p>\n

The rules governing professional athletes, the legal protections available to students and the potential consequences for refusing to participate are separate questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 The national anthem is back at the center of a political debate after the Atlanta…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-900213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}