Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 29, 1995 TAG: 9506290076
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The amendment would give state and federal authorities the power to impose criminal sanctions against persons convicted of physically desecrating the flag, although it made no attempt to define desecration.
The 312-120 vote was well beyond the two-thirds majority required to adopt a constitutional amendment. A two-thirds majority also will be needed in the Senate, which is expected to take up the amendment next month.
The only Virginia representatives voting against the amendment were Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, and Robert Scott, D-Newport News.
If the proposal passes both houses, it would have to be ratified by 38 state legislatures within seven years to become the 28th amendment to the Constitution.
The House action was in part a reaction to U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 1989 and 1990 that struck down state and federal laws that criminalized flag-burning and similar acts of contempt against the nation's pre-eminent symbol.
``This amendment restores the flag to its rightful position of honor,'' said Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-N.Y., a prime sponsor.
To Cuban-born Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., the amendment presented an opportunity to validate the nation's ethnic diversity.
``Precisely because we are such a diverse nation, the symbol of our national unity deserves protection,'' he said. ``There certainly should be no [court-dictated] bar to such protection.''
But Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md., a Marine veteran of Vietnam, said that as much as he personally detested disrespect for the flag, he opposed the effort to make it a criminal offense.
``It took me a few years to realize that [Vietnam war protesters'] right to be obnoxious, to be unpatriotic ... , was the essence of what we fought for,'' he said. ``Freedom means the freedom to be stupid, just as surely as it means the freedom to be wise - and no government should ever be so powerful as to differentiate between the two.''
by CNB