- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A
key congressional panel, undeterred by a series of Senate rejections in
recent years, approved on Wednesday a proposed constitutional amendment
that would let Congress forbid burning or otherwise desecrating the American
flag.
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- On a 15-11 vote, the Republican-led House of Representatives
Judiciary Committee sent the measure to the full House for a vote as early
as next week before the chamber takes its Fourth of July recess.
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- ``The American flag serves a unique role as the symbol
of the ideals upon which America was founded,'' Committee Chairman James
Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said in pushing for flag protection.
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- For a constitutional amendment to become law, it must
win the support of two-thirds of the House and Senate and then be ratified
by 38 of the 50 states.
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- The amendment fell four votes short in the Senate last
year after sailing through the House 305-124 in 1999.
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- It was the fourth time since 1989 that the Senate had
rejected the amendment, which foes say would infringe on First Amendment
guarantees of free speech.
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- The amendment was first introduced in response to a 1989
Supreme Court decision striking down a Texas law against flag desecration
and a 1990 decision that ruled unconstitutional a flag protection law passed
by Congress.
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- Gregory Nojeim, an associate director of the American
Civil Liberties Union, denounced the Judiciary Committee's approval of
the proposed constitutional amendment, which would give Congress the power
to safeguard the flag.
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- ``The Bill of Rights was designed to protect the voices
of the few from the intolerance of the majority,'' Nojeim said. ''Very
little can justify its modification, least of all some imaginary epidemic
of flag burning.''
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- The amendment was offered by Rep. Randy ``Duke'' Cunningham,
a California Republican, and has 245 co-sponsors.
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