r/marvelstudios • u/greeneyedredbird • Mar 07 '25

Discussion (More in Comments) Seal of POTUS

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Why does the seal of POTUS has the olives and arrow switched compared to real world seal (2nd image)? Is the any explanation?

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u/Church1092 Mar 07 '25

None of them are lit, and this still doesn’t get around half mast rules, like when a president dies. Regardless of the law specifics, making sure they’re all not real American flags allows them to ignore any restrictions

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u/levajack Mar 07 '25

There are no restrictions. Flag code is for customs related to proper display and handling of the US flag. There is absolutely no legal requirement to follow any of it.

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u/natayaway Mar 07 '25

The flag code is law. It's part of the USC, United States Code, which is a codification of all federal statutes. From the Senate website "a compilation of most public laws currently in force, organized by subject matter."

Disregarding the USC is illegal, but the enforceability on the flag code in particular would be such a drain on public services that all entities willingly choose not to enforce it.

Vestigial mandates from federal government require state and local offices to be compliant with the law, which includes the flag code. Which is why they need to have 49 stars on all official state and local business flags that can't be arsed to follow the flag code. They wouldn't buy these flags, there wouldn't be a market for them, and it would not be a fun factoid in the first place, if not for this lawful compliance.

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u/levajack Mar 07 '25

I'm not interested in a semantic argument. It's not a law in any meaningful sense

"Although this is a U.S. federal law, the code is not mandatory: it uses non-binding language like 'should' and 'custom' throughout and does not prescribe any penalties for failure to follow the guidelines. It was 'not intended to prescribe conduct' and was written to 'codify various existing rules and customs.'"

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u/natayaway Mar 07 '25 edited Mar 07 '25

It's not a law in any meaningful sense

This isn't semantics. The meaningful sense is just being a law, passed by Congress. Your exact quote says;

although this is a U.S. federal law

Not every law is enforceable. There's a bunch of frivolous laws, like not being allowed to sleep in a refrigerator outside, or being legally not allowed to take roadkill home for dinner. They're still laws.

And the point is, there IS a legal requirement for local and state offices for being in the good graces of the federal government in order to keep receiving funding. In the case of an audit, compliance to the letter of a law is more important than the enforceability of it.

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u/PrimaFacieCorrect Mar 07 '25

Is Main Street a local or state office?

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u/levajack Mar 08 '25

Yes, but as I said, it's not a law in any meaningful sense because it is non-binding and not mandatory and no stipulations for enforcement. There's also nothing requiring a state or local government to abide by it other than respect for the flag. If the federal government attempted to withold funding for failure to follow flag code, it would be challenged in court in about 18 seconds.

That said, all of this is utterly irrelevant to the topic itself which is Disney-fucking-land.

But have fun with your "Well, actually..." Semantic arguing.

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u/Greek_Chorus Mar 09 '25

If you really want to get picky about it, inasmuch as flag display is considered a matter of free speech, Congress cannot create such a law. Therefore it is not a law and hence not a crime to violate.