Long Beach : Council Orders Ordinance to Prohibit Flag Burnings

The Long Beach City Council, rallying around the flag, is drawing up an ordinance that would make it illegal to burn the American flag within city boundaries.

Brushing aside the fact that federal courts have struck down a federal law prohibiting flag burning, the council unanimously voted Tuesday to prepare a local ban on flag burning. Councilman Evan Anderson Braude was not on the floor for the vote.

Thomas (Ski) Demski, Long Beach’s self-appointed guardian of the flag, brought the proposal to the council and Councilman Wallace Edgerton introduced the motion.

The Bush Administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the federal flag-burning law passed by Congress last year and subsequently declared unconstitutional by two lower courts.