Senate Rejects Flag Burning Amendment
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WASHINGTON – A constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration died in a Senate cliffhanger yesterday, a single vote short of the support needed to send it to the states for ratification and four months before voters elect a new Congress.
The 66-34 tally in favor of the amendment was one less than the two thirds required. The House surpassed that threshold last year, 286-130.
The proposed amendment, sponsored by Senator Hatch, a Republican of Utah, read: “The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.”
It represented Congress’ response to Supreme Court rulings in 1989 and 1990 that burning and other desecrations of the flag are protected as free speech by the First Amendment to the Constitution.
Senate supporters said the flag amounts to a national monument in cloth that represents freedom and the sacrifice of American troops.
“Countless men and women have died defending that flag,” said Majority Leader Frist, a Republican of Tennessee, closing two days of debate. “It is but a small humble act for us to defend it.”
Opponents said the amendment would violate the First Amendment right to free speech. And some Democrats complained that majority Republicans were exploiting people’s patriotism for political advantage in the midterm elections.
“Our country’s unique because our dissidents have a voice,” said Senator Inouye, a Democrat of Hawaii, a World War II veteran who lost an arm in the war and was decorated with the Medal of Honor.
“While I take offense at disrespect to the flag,” he said, “I nonetheless believe it is my continued duty as a veteran, as an American citizen, and as a United States senator to defend the constitutional right of protesters to use the flag in nonviolent speech.”
Among possible presidential contenders in 2008, six voted yes: Senator Bayh, a Democrat of Indiana, and Republican Senators Allen of Virginia, Brownback of Kansas, Frist, Hagel of Nebraska, and McCain of Arizona.
Five, all Democrats, voted no: Senators Biden of Delaware, Clinton of New York, Dodd of Connecticut, Feingold of Wisconsin, and Kerry of Massachusetts.
