Politics

House Endorses Flag Amendment

July 17, 2001 / 11:23 PM EDT / AP

For the fourth time in six years, the House on Tuesday endorsed a constitutional amendment to protect the American flag from desecration.

Once again, however, the effort to amend the Constitution for only the 18th time since the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791 faced likely defeat in the Senate.

The House voted 298-125 for the one-sentence article stating that "The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States."

If it also wins a two-thirds majority in the Senate and is approved by three-fourths of state legislatures, the amendment would overturn Supreme Court rulings in 1989 and 1990 that flag-burning and other acts of desecration were protected under First Amendment free speech rights.

Supporters argued that abusing the national symbol went far beyond free speech protections. "Vandalizing a no-parking sign is a misdemeanor, but burning a flag is a hate crime, because burning the flag is an expression of contempt for the moral unity of the American people," said Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill.

Opponents argued that it would be a serious mistake to limit First Amendment rights for the first time in the nation's history to ban an act that rarely occurs. "I deplore desecration of the flag in any form," said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., but "I am strongly opposed to this resolution because it ... elevates a symbol of freedom over freedom itself."

Debate over the flag amendment has been almost an annual occurrence in recent years, arising out of a 5-4 Supreme Court decision in 1989 that flag-burning was a protected free speech right. That ruling overturned a 1968 federal statue and flag protection laws in 48 states.

In 1990, Congress passed another law protecting the flag, but the Supreme Court that year, in another 5-4 ruling, struck it down as unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court "overruled 200 years of tradition," said Rep. Randy, "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., sponsor of the resolution with Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.

"We're working to correct an error of the Supreme Court," said retired Gen. Patrick Brady, chairman of Citizens Flag Alliance, a coalition of civic and veterans groups pushing the flag amendment.

But Gregory Nojeim of the American Civil Liberties Union, a main opponent, said the failure of supporters to get 300 votes showed a "serious decline" in the amendment movement. "More members of Congress than ever have recognized their duty to protect the freedom to dissent in America."

The House approved flag amendments in 1995, 1997 and 1999, all by more than 300 votes. But the Senate, in votes in 1995 and 2000, each time came up with only 63 votes, four short of the two-thirds majority needed.

This year, with Democrats taking over control of the Senate, even getting a vote is expected to be difficult. The new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is a leading opponent of the amendment, unlike his predecessor Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utaha chief proponent.

Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., and other Democrats offered an alternative stating that Congress could prohibit desecration of the flag as long as its action was not inconsistent with the First Amendment. It was defeated 324-100.