House Approves Amendment To Protect Flag

By John Whitesides

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives easily approved a constitutional amendment Thursday that would allow Congress to ban the burning or other desecration of the American flag, but the measure still appeared doomed in the Senate.

After a sometimes emotional debate over two days, the House voted 305-124 in support of the amendment, designed to overturn a 1989 Supreme Court decision that struck down state laws against the burning or desecration of the flag.

It was the third time since 1995 that the House had mustered the two-thirds vote needed to approve the amendment, but earlier efforts sputtered in the Senate. Proponents said the measure is still two or three votes short of the 67 needed to win Senate approval.

The amendment's supporters said the flag was so critical and prominent a symbol of the United States that burning or defacing it in any way was a direct affront to the entire nation.

``The American flag is not just a piece of cloth. It is a symbol that reflects the values, the struggles and the storied history of our great country,'' Rep. Joe Knollenberg, a Michigan Republican, said.

But opponents said amending the Constitution was a drastic step given there are so few incidents of flag desecration. They said it was a dangerous attack on First Amendment free-speech rights that could lead to future restrictions on the freedoms of press, religion and other basic rights.

``If we open the doors to criminalizing constitutionally protected expression related to the flag, I am afraid that there will be further efforts to limit and censor speech or conduct that we do not like,'' said Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan.

Any amendment to the Constitution needs two-thirds approval in both chambers of Congress and ratification by 38 of the 50 states. Legislatures in 49 states -- all but Vermont -- already have passed resolutions backing the amendment.

The House approved the flag amendment in 1995 and 1997, but the Senate fell four votes short of approval in 1995 and never took up the issue in the last Congress.

Senate supporters say they are still a few votes short of the two-thirds needed for approval. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has said the issue will be taken up later this summer.

House Republicans last year attempted unsuccessfully to amend the Constitution to allow prayer in public schools, and last week voted to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

Some supporters linked the flag-desecration measure with those initiatives, saying they were all part of a congressional attempt to help the nation find its ``moral center.''

``Some of those who are in opposition to this amendment are also in opposition to our efforts to bring prayer back into school, our efforts to revitalize America to find its moral center,'' Rep. Steve Buyer, an Indiana Republican, said.

Supporters said the amendment would not suppress the expression of views and ideas, but simply allows Congress to prohibit physical desecration of the flag.

``Burning an American flag is not free speech,'' Rep. John Sweeney, a New York Republican, said. ``It is inexcusable conduct that must be condemned. We should not protect such reprehensible behavior any more than we would protect arsonists and vandals.''