Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act this afternoon, which designates June 19 as a federal holiday.
In recent years, the date has been a cause to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Union Maj. Gen. George Granger assumed command of 2,000 federal troops on the island of Galveston in Texas and transmitted the news of the Emancipation Proclamation to the state’s residents, freeing the slaves at the end of the Civil War.
But in 2021, June 19 falls on a Saturday.
According to the US Code (specifically 5 U.S. Code § 6103), ‘Instead of a holiday that occurs on a Saturday, the Friday immediately before is a legal public holiday for…employees whose basic workweek is Monday through Friday.’
Biden put pen to paper at 3:30 ET this afternoon, entering the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law and amending the US Code to include June 19. Therefore Friday June 18, 2021 will be Juneteenth (observed) — a federal holiday.
Finally, something for which you can thank politicians.
