Prospects for Flag Amendment Brighten

A constitutional amendment banning flag desecration appears to have its best chance of passage in years, thanks to a change in Senate membership and second thoughts by some lawmakers opposed in the past.

Activists predict that one to three votes could determine the outcome. The proposal fell three votes short in 1995, the last time it was before the Senate.

At issue is the same one-sentence proposal that got more than the two-thirds majority in the House in 1997. The amendment says: “The Congress shall have the power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.”

One factor in the amendment’s favor in the Senate is the election of former Ohio GOP Gov. George Voinovich, a supporter, to the seat vacated by retired Democratic Sen. John Glenn, an opponent.

Additional help could come from North Dakota’s two Democratic senators, Byron L. Dorgan and Kent Conrad, both of whom voted against the amendment in 1995. They now are undecided, their spokesmen said.

If the proposed amendment were to pass both the House and the Senate by two-thirds majorities, three-fourths of the state legislatures would have to ratify it before the amendment would become part of the Constitution.

The flag amendment cleared the House by a 312-120 vote in 1995 and again by 310 to 114 in 1997. But the Senate rejected it, 63 to 36, in 1995 and did not vote in 1997.

The changing odds in part prompted Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) to seek help from Glenn at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday at which several lawmakers with military service spoke on behalf of the amendment.

Glenn an astronaut, Korean War veteran and staunch opponent of the amendment, said the proposal would undermine some of the very constitutional rights the flag symbolizes.

Desecrating the flag, Glenn said, is not a widespread practice and, even if it were, such expression is a right guaranteed by the Constitution’s freedom of speech clause.

“It would indeed be a hollow victory to protect a symbol by taking any chance at chipping away at the freedoms themselves,” Glenn said.

He said the amendment also poorly defines “desecration” and even “flag.”

Glenn said he recently saw merchandise in a shop that sells flags as bikinis, boxer shorts and other items of clothing.

“If they soil it, is that desecration? How about a bumper sticker (picturing an American flag) covered with dust?” Glenn asked.

Glenn also accused veterans groups, many of which he has joined, of advocating passage and pressuring lawmakers without considering the details.

Proponents argued that protecting the flag’s symbolism is important enough to amend the Constitution.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a decorated Vietnam veteran who spent five years as a prisoner of war, spoke about a fellow prisoner severely beaten for hiding an American flag while in captivity and pulling it out daily for a secret recitation of the pledge of allegiance.

After the beating, the soldier stitched red, white and blue pieces of cloth together again so he and his fellow prisoners could continue the ritual that held such meaning for them, McCain said.

“All of us are products of our experience in life, and that’s my experience,” McCain said. “American blood has been shed all over the world for the American flag . . . and I believe it deserves respect.”

A House Judiciary subcommittee also is considering the flag amendment.