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Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Amendment to protect flag 1 vote shy
Senate chooses to 'tolerate dissent,' rejects passage
WASHINGTON -- By a single vote, the Senate failed to pass a constitutional amendment Tuesday to give Congress the power to protect the American flag.
The 66-34 vote was one short of the two-thirds majority needed to send the amendment to the state legislatures, where ratification was likely.
Opponents argued that the amendment would infringe on the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression.
"While I take offense at disrespect to the flag," said Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who lost an arm fighting in World War II, "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 non-violent speech."
Sen. Maria Cantwell, who with fellow Washington Democrat Patty Murray voted against the amendment, said she understands the desire to protect the flag, but added: "The strength of our nation lies in our ability to tolerate dissent even when we do not agree with what is being expressed. While I do not condone it, there is simply no more basic or potent statement of freedom of expression than the destruction of a national symbol."
The 18-word amendment would not outlaw flag burning or other harms. It reads: "The Congress shall have the power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States."
"This amendment does not ban anything. It does not amend the First Amendment. It does not prohibit speech," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, author of the amendment.
If ratified, the amendment would give Congress the power to define, as well as prohibit, "physical desecration" but the issue of what constitutes "desecration" would not be debated until after the 38 state legislatures approved the measure.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., noted that desecration, like beauty, could be in the eye of the beholder. He held up a poster of Kid Rock wearing the American flag as a poncho and noted the musician performed for the Republican National Convention in 2004, McClatchy News Service reported.
"They partied with him, they loved him!" Lautenberg said.
The Supreme Court has already struck down federal statutes aimed at protecting the physical integrity of the flag.
Three Republicans voted against the amendment and 14 Democrats voted for it.
As the Senate voted on the amendment, a poll was released showing only 49 percent of registered voters thought flag burning was a "very important" issue -- compared with 82 percent for education, 80 percent for the economy, 75 percent for Social Security, 74 percent for the situation in Iraq, 58 percent for immigration and 52 percent for the environment.
But the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press also showed that 60 percent of Republicans believe the flag protection amendment is very important -- thus illustrating why the GOP Senate leadership devoted crucial days to the issue.
The Pew Poll of 1,501 adults was taken June 14-19 and has a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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