Flag Decision Sets Off Scramble in Congress : Legislation: Some seek swift passage of a constitutional change. But polls show the issue has lost its steam. A one-third minority can block action.

Spurred by a Supreme Court ruling, key members of Congress on Monday demanded swift passage of a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning, while outnumbered opponents scrambled to line up votes to block it.

Proponents of an amendment are helped by several factors. Congress’ top two Republican leaders--Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and Rep. Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.)--are leading the charge, with President Bush’s enthusiastic backing. They also have strong support from two key Democrats--the chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary committees: Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-R. I.) and Rep. Jack Brooks (D-Tex.).

Moreover, key votes will take place in the patriotic atmosphere surrounding Flag Day, which falls on Thursday, and the Fourth of July, less than three weeks later. And in the charged politics of an election year, lawmakers will be wary of casting votes on emotional issues that might inspire negative TV ads by their opponents.

“People who vote (against the amendment) will have to go home and explain,” said Dole, the Senate minority leader. “It will make a good 30-second spot.”

Nevertheless, opponents of the flag-burning amendment appear to have several things going for them, too. Opinion polls indicate that the issue has lost steam in recent months and that it is insufficient to decide an election by itself.

Opponents also have a statistical advantage: A constitutional amendment can be blocked by a one-third minority in either house of Congress. And Congress’ top two Democrats--House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) and Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.)--have vowed to fight it vigorously, with the expected help of several prominent Republicans.

“We are now within 10 or 15 votes of stopping it,” said Rep. Don Edwards (D-San Jose), chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on civil and constitutional rights. “But it’s awful tough. There’s a mindless stampede out there, and, if it passes, the President will sign it and the states will step all over themselves to ratify it.”

Dole pressed for quick approval of the amendment on Flag Day, but he was rebuffed by Mitchell.

“It would be a grievous error in the haste and heat of controversy to amend the Bill of Rights,” Mitchell said, adding later that there will be “ample opportunity to discuss this issue in the Senate.”

In the House, Brooks announced that his Judiciary Committee will act on a proposed amendment next Tuesday and will bring it to the House floor before July 4.

“The flag is too important a symbol of our nationhood and all that we have struggled for over the past two centuries to leave it unprotected,” he said.

By overwhelming margins, the Senate and the House voted last fall to pass the Flag Protection Act, which was ruled unconstitutional by the high court Monday. Shortly after passing the statute, the Senate voted, 51 to 48, in favor of a constitutional amendment--15 votes short of the required two-thirds majority. There has been no vote in the House on an amendment.

Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) reaffirmed that he strongly supports an amendment, but Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), long an opponent, did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), who last year introduced his own constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration, said Monday that he was not surprised by the Supreme Court’s decision.

“I voted for the law last year (that the court struck down Monday) under protest. I knew it was a big waste of time,” Dornan said. “Why would the Supreme Court change and look like politicians who flip-flop all the time?

“The reason I voted for it was because I didn’t want to answer to a lot of veterans groups: ‘Why did I vote against protecting the flag?’ ”

Dornan predicted that both the Senate and the House will quickly pass a constitutional amendment, and that it will be ratified by the required 38 state legislatures within 18 months.

“(House Speaker Thomas) Foley promised the President and all of us that we get a vote on this,” Dornan said. “It will pass the House, and it will pass the Senate. Most of the state legislatures have adjourned for the year.

“We’ve got to get 38 of them . . . but I believe it will go through as quickly as any (constitutional) amendment ever did.”

Political operatives were cautious about gauging the impact of the issue on this year’s elections. But strategists in both parties agreed that much of the initial public indignation that followed last year’s court decision on the matter has subsided.

“I don’t think anybody is going to win or lose an election on this,” said political consultant Lyn Nofziger, a one-time aide to former President Ronald Reagan.