Flag Burning Amendment Passes

Carpetbagger is reporting that the U.S. House has passed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning the burning of the American flag. The margin more than satisfied the two-thirds requirement for such amendments. As regular blog readers know, there are precious few issues I care about more than the Bill of Rights. This amendment is designed specifically to counteract the First Amendment's guarantee of protection for speech. Obviously, an amendment can't be unconstitutional. But this amendment misses the whole point of the First Amendment. If the First Amendment only applied to popular speech, there would be no point in having it; a republic would never ban popular speech, even if it technically could. On the other hand, unpopular speech, such as flag-burning, is inevitably banned by unrestrained republics. Indeed, most states had bans on flag-burning on the books prior to the Texas vs. Johnson ruling. Moreover, the statement that the amendment doesn't target people because of their opinions, used many times by proponents of the amendment, is ludicrous. If this is the case, would people object to the prosecution of American Legion members for using fire to dispose of worn-out flags? This is no petty issue; indeed, it was Wesley Clark's endorsement of the amendment caused me to abandon my support for him. It is imperative that the U.S. Senate reject this insane amendment.

Comments

[Greg Kuperberg]

A short version of the House bill: Save the flag, burn the Constitution.

[Minipundit]

Nice.