| House approves flag burning constitutional amendment Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=avRFsYCsGAgY&refer=ushttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=avRFsYCsGAgY&refer=us
U.S. House Approves Constitutional Amendment to Protect Flag
June 22 (Bloomberg) -- The House of Representatives approved, for the fifth time, a constitutional amendment to ban the desecration of the U.S. flag, setting the stage for a close vote in the Senate, which has previously rejected the measure.
The House approved the proposal by 286-130, more than the two- thirds necessary to pass constitutional amendments.
The amendment allows Congress to pass laws prohibiting destruction of the flag as part of protests. A constitutional amendment is necessary because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1990 that laws forbidding flag desecration violate the free speech protections of the First Amendment.
``For the first time we have the chance for this amendment to pass the Senate,'' said Representative Randy Cunningham, a California Republican and the sponsor of the measure.
The Senate last voted on a flag desecration amendment in 2000, falling four votes short of the 67 required to pass. Since that vote, 26 new senators have been elected. Elliot Mincberg, vice president and legal director of People for the American Way, a Washington-based policy group that opposes the amendment, said ``a handful of votes'' will decide the issue in the Senate.
``Whether it's one, two or three is hard to predict,'' he said. ``It does sometimes go along lines one might not expect.''
In the 2000 vote, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, now the Senate's Republican Whip, voted against the amendment. California Democrat Dianne Feinstein voted for it.
This is the fifth time the House has approved the specific language of this amendment, which would give Congress the ``power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.''
`Dangerous Precedent'
Mincberg said an amendment to protect the flag isn't needed and that Congress should be spending its time on more important issues. Opponents of the amendment in the House said it would restrict the right to protest.
``This resolution goes against the ideals the flag represents,'' Michigan Democrat John Conyers said. ``By limiting the scope of the First Amendment's free speech protections we are setting a dangerous precedent.''
Cunningham said the measure ``doesn't take away First Amendment rights.''
``It says please don't desecrate the flag,'' he said.
Democrat Gene Taylor of Mississippi sought to add provisions that would require a balanced federal budget and protect the Social Security trust fund. The motions were defeated on procedural votes.
Changing the constitution requires two-thirds votes in both chambers of Congress and approval from three-fourths of state legislatures. All 50 states have passed resolutions in support of the amendment, Cunningham said.
The last amendment to the Constitution was the 27th, ratified in 1992, which mandates that pay raises for lawmakers not take effect until after the following congressional election. Last Updated: June 22, 2005 14:46 EDT
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