The law is that the US Flag shall have 48 stars. It appears it was never updated to add Alaska or Hawai’i. Elsewhere, the law does state that a star is added for every state on the July 4th after its admission but 4 USC 1 has never been updated.
Are 50 star flags illegal or rather non representative of the United States? I’d rather use this than the “gold fringe” argument the next time I go all SovCit in court on a speeding ticket.
As a corollary, does this mean 48 star flags are the standard US flag to fly still? I’m talking from courthouses, public buildings, etc. I know California had a law that it was still legal to fly the 48 star flag after Alaska’s admission so that the public building wouldn’t have to buy 49 star flags just to turn around the next year and buy 50 star flags as everyone knew Hawai’i was about to be admitted.
Why has this never been updated? It seems it would be pretty standard to do with all the mundane stuff Congress deals with on the first few days of a session.
4 USC 10 empowers the President to make alterations:
Any rule or custom pertaining to the display of the flag of the United States of America, set forth herein, may be altered, modified, or repealed, or additional rules with respect thereto may be prescribed, by the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, whenever he deems it to be appropriate or desirable; and any such alteration or additional rule shall be set forth in a proclamation.
So while it is true that the text of 4 USC 1, stating that the flag shall have 8 stars, hasn’t been updated, it is also true that the Code itself says the President can amend the design. This has been made use of by means of executive orders (first Executive Order 10798, adding a 49th star for Alaska, then Executive Order 10834, adding a 50th star for Hawaii). So when you read this in conjunction, you’ll find that the 50-star design, even though not mentioned in 4 USC 1, has a sound legal basis.
It’s not like 4 USC 1 has any enforceable penalties. If it did, half the country would be in jail or fined, including the NFL, MLB, NASCAR and just about every joker who demands “respect” for the flag.
What happens is that Section 2 about addign stars (not just “elsewhere”, but immediately after) modifies the Section 1 provision that established 48 as the base number, and Section 10 provides for the way the President makes it happen.
So the legally accepted reading is “First, the Flag contains 48 stars; Second, to that one star will be added for each additional state admitted”.
If they had wanted ONLY 48 stars, the law would have looked something like
“First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out.”
That’s true, but it amounts to saying “The fifty-star flag is illegal, but there are no consequences arising from that illegality”. What the OP is interested in is if it is really true that the fifty-star flag is illegal.
And the answer is “no, because the law itself in its Sections 2 and 10 explains what happens when new states are added”. 4 USC 1 does not stand alone.
The other thing one could infer is if it means that to this day the 48-star flag of 1912-1959 continues to be a legit “official” US flag and not just a historic artifact.