Flag Desecration Amendment Defeated in Senate
Wednesday June 28, 2006
Category: Free Speech
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted 66-34 to pass a constitutional amendment banning flag desecration--just one vote shy of the two-thirds majority needed to pass any new constitutional amendment. Of course, it would still need to be ratified in 38 states within 7 years--unlikely, given that a record 63% of Americans oppose the amendment.
Or do they? Folks in the media have been citing a recent USA Today poll that seems to suggest that 56% of Americans support the Flag Desecration Amendment. The 63% figure is certainly more in line with other recent polls showing majority opposition to the amendment, though none by that kind of margin. Not that any of this is likely to matter, because state-by-state support would be more important during the ratification process than national public opinion.
Amendment supporters who believe that this amendment would actually become law should remember the Equal Rights Amendment. Despite the fact that the ERA was supported by a clear majority of voters--never fewer than 54%--it fell three states shy of ratification when the seven-year deadline passed. With the public evenly divided on this issue, do supporters of flag desecration bans really expect every single red and purple state, plus one-third of the 18 reliable blue states, to support this radical restriction on free speech? That's what would be necessary for ratification, no matter how well or how badly the bill does in the U.S. Congress.
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Yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted 66-34 to pass a constitutional amendment banning flag desecration--just one vote shy of the two-thirds majority needed to pass any new constitutional amendment. Of course, it would still need to be ratified in 38 states within 7 years--unlikely, given that a record 63% of Americans oppose the amendment.
Or do they? Folks in the media have been citing a recent USA Today poll that seems to suggest that 56% of Americans support the Flag Desecration Amendment. The 63% figure is certainly more in line with other recent polls showing majority opposition to the amendment, though none by that kind of margin. Not that any of this is likely to matter, because state-by-state support would be more important during the ratification process than national public opinion.
Amendment supporters who believe that this amendment would actually become law should remember the Equal Rights Amendment. Despite the fact that the ERA was supported by a clear majority of voters--never fewer than 54%--it fell three states shy of ratification when the seven-year deadline passed. With the public evenly divided on this issue, do supporters of flag desecration bans really expect every single red and purple state, plus one-third of the 18 reliable blue states, to support this radical restriction on free speech? That's what would be necessary for ratification, no matter how well or how badly the bill does in the U.S. Congress.
See also:
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