Flag Burning Amendment
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The Flag Burning Amendment is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would allow the Congress to outlaw the burning the Flag of the United States.
The full text of the proposed amendment is as follows:
- The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.
This proposed amendment is intended to give Congress the right to make laws in which burning the United States flag in a public protest could be a criminal action. Many have argued that burning the flag is a very offensive gesture that deserves to be formally outlawed. Others, however, have argued that giving Congress such a power is essentially limiting the freedom of speech enshrined in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and symbolized by the flag itself.
In the past flag burning laws have been made, but all have been overturned by decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, the most notable of which include Texas v. Johnson and U.S. v. Eichman. The Court has sided with those who argue burning the flag is acceptable within the First Amendment.
The amendment has been repeatedly passed by the United States House of Representatives, the first time being in 1995. However, it has consistently failed to obtain the necessary two-thirds majority of Senate votes. The Senate last rejected the amendment (as Senate Joint Resolution 14) in March 2000 when a 63-37 vote fell four votes short of the required two-thirds majority. If the amendment cleared both houses of Congress, it would still need to be ratified by three-fourths of the states to become part of the Constitution. According to the Citizens Flag Alliance, which advocates in favor of the amendment, 49 of the 50 states have passed resolutions expressing support for the proposed amendment (Vermont is the exception), but the resolutions are not legally binding.
The amendment passed 286-130 in the United States House of Representatives on June 22, 2005. In order to be added to the constitution, it must be passed by two-thirds of the United States Senate, as well as be ratified by three-fourths of state legislatures, or by special conventions in at least three-fourths of the fifty states. (The latter ratification method has been utilized only once in America's past—with the ratification of the 21st Amendment in 1933). As approved the the United States House of Representatives, House Joint Resolution No. 10 calls for ratification by state legislatures. Of course, that stipulation could be changed by the Senate.
See also
External Links
- Status of HR10 (Flag Amendment in the US House) (http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.asp?year=2005&rollnumber=296)
- AP via Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050622/ap_on_go_co/flag_burning;_ylt=AkXvodpr8afxiBN1tvda0Pys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--)fr:Amendement contre la désacralisation du drapeau des États-Unis