Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1990 TAG: 9006130493
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/5 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: ROBIN TONER THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The Founding Fathers designed a system that was aimed at sober, deliberate reflection on any amendment, a system that could cool the passions of the moment and allowed revision of the Constitution only with the approval of two-thirds of the House, two-thirds of the Senate and three-fourths, now 38, of the state legislatures.
But the Founding Fathers could not envision the rough politics of 1990, the whipsaw of instant polling and 30-second attack commercials.
Those who are struggling to block the amendment say it is simple political fear they are fighting among some colleagues: Will this fall's campaigns transform a vote against an amendment into a vote for the flag burners?
"Hardly any of them really want to vote for a bill that would weaken the free-speech provision of the Bill of Rights," said Rep. Don Edwards, D-Calif., who is leading the battle against the amendment.
"They just are afraid."
Last year, lawmakers were able to finesse the issue by opposing a constitutional amendment while voting for a law that, its supporters argued, would protect the flag and leave the Bill of Rights unimpaired.
On Monday, with its decision voiding the Flag Protection Act, the U.S. Supreme Court snatched away that option.
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday that he believed he could write an amendment that protects the flag "but does not do violence to the Constitution," although he said he has not decided on the language.
However an amendment is written, the lawmakers are clearly headed for political high noon: a straight up-or-down vote on the issue.
The actions of 50 state legislatures are hard to predict, but many analysts and politicians say if an amendment is approved by Congress, it would be difficult to stop in the states.
Walter Dellinger of Duke University, an expert on the amendment process, noted that Congress has long been "the principal check" on efforts to rewrite the Constitution.
Since 1789, more than 5,000 bills proposing constitutional amendments have been introduced in Congress, which has sent just 33 of them to the states.
Of those 33, 26 have been ratified, the last in 1971, when the voting age was lowered from 21 years to 18.
It is not unusual for a Supreme Court decision to spark a public outcry and an attempt to amend the Constitution as a way of overriding that decision.
Right now, there are proposed amendments languishing in Congress that would restore organized prayer in public schools and overturn the Supreme Court decision that established a right to abortion.
But flag burning has tormented Congress since the Supreme Court handed down its first decision on the matter last year.
Much of that torment has to do with the unique place of the flag in America's political culture.
Much of it has to do with the constant tension in this country between the commitment to freedom of expression and the anger at "the obnoxious and offensive people" who often exercise it most fully, as Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., puts it.
Still, the flag issue draws much of its power from the nature of modern politics.
A burning flag is one of the most gripping visual images, communicating in an instant an ugly rejection of the values most Americans embrace.
"I can see it now," said Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., who is one of the strongest voices against the amendment, " `Bob Kerrey votes for gun control, and he won't vote to protect the flag.' It's a great 30-second spot."
by CNB