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A protester burns a United States flag in Washington, January 20, 2005. A measure that would change the U.S. Constitution to let Congress ban burning the American flag was sent to the Senate floor on Thursday, setting up an election-year debate. (REUTERS/Jim Bourg) |
Flag-burning amendment heads to Senate floor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A measure that would change the U.S. Constitution to let Congress ban burning the American flag was sent to the Senate floor on Thursday, setting up an election-year debate.
The amendment has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives by the needed two-thirds margin. The bill's sponsor, Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, said he believes it will pass the Senate.
"I know we have more than 67 votes, if people are allowed to vote their conscience," Hatch said after the Judiciary Committee's 11-7 vote, which fell largely along party lines.
The flag debate comes shortly after the Senate defeated a constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriages. Democrats say Republicans are scheduling votes on a string of similar issues to win support from conservatives who might otherwise not vote in the November congressional elections.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that flag burning was protected under constitutional free-speech guarantees, invalidating laws in 48 states and outraging veterans' groups and others who say that an important national symbol should be protected from defacement.
"You can't shout 'fire' in a crowded theater. There's restrictions on everything," said Richard Pedro, an adjutant with the American Legion of New York who observed the committee debate.
Other veterans' groups say the amendment would erode the freedom of expression that they fought for, a point echoed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont.
"In America you do not stamp out a bad idea by repressing it, you stamp out a bad idea with a better idea," he said.
Leahy said veterans' groups should focus on improving health care and other government services owed them.
According to a CNN poll released on Wednesday, 56 percent of American adults support the flag-burning amendment, while 40 percent oppose it.
The amendment, which must win approval from at least 38 states within seven years, would not prohibit flag desecration but give Congress the power to say how the flag can be protected and what penalties should apply.
The Senate is expected to take up the amendment before the July 4 recess.
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