U.S. Seeks List of Convicted Flag Burners

Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh said Sunday that he has directed the Justice Department to compile a list of federal prisoners convicted of burning the U.S. flag in anticipation that they will be freed under a recent Supreme Court decision.

“If someone is entitled to relief, then all are entitled to relief,” Thornburgh said, referring to the high court’s 5-4 decision in a Texas case, in which the justices ruled that burning the American flag is a constitutionally protected form of political protest.

However, he said he doubted that more than “a handful” of federal prisoners are involved.

Thornburgh made the comments on ABC-TV’s “This Week With David Brinkley” in response to a question about Carlos Mendoza-Lugo, a Puerto Rican nationalist now at the U.S. penitentiary in Atlanta.

Files Petition

Mendoza-Lugo, who was given a one-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to a federal charge of flag desecration, last week filed a petition in U.S. District Court for his release.

“My expectation is that he probably will be entitled to that relief,” Thornburgh said of Mendoza-Lugo, who burned a U.S. flag two years ago in front of a U.S. post office as a protest for Puerto Rican independence.

“The court’s striking down the Texas statute in all likelihood would encompass the federal statute that was passed at the time of the flag-burning demonstrations during the Vietnam War,” the attorney general said.

On the same program, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) said he thinks that a constitutional amendment “is the wrong way to go” to prevent flag burning, and he repeated his call for a statutory law to protect the banner.

But some experts argue that the law would be in direct contradiction to the Supreme Court decision.

Defends Bush Position

Thornburgh cited that belief as he defended President Bush’s call for a constitutional amendment.

On CBS’ “Face the Nation,” attorney William M. Kunstler, who successfully defended his client in the Texas case, called the proposed constitutional amendment “a monstrosity.”

“It’s the first amendment ever proposed to change the Bill of Rights and it’s done out of panic, out of political pandering and I think it would be a disgrace if we let the Bill of Rights, for the first time after some 17 amendments, be changed by a constitutional amendment to restrict freedom of speech,” Kunstler said.