[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 83 (Thursday, May 18, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6845-S6846]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     TEXAS ACTS ON FLAG DESECRATION

  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, Texas Secretary of State, the Honorable 
Antonio O. Garza, Jr., has forwarded to me a copy of a resolution 
passed by the Texas Legislature on March 9, 1995 and signed by Governor 
George Bush. The resolution petitions the U.S. Congress to propose to 
the States an amendment to the Constitution of the United States which 
protects the American flag from willful desecration. I supported the 
passage of such an amendment in 1990 when the Senate debated the issue 
and have cosponsored the most recent proposal to ban the desecration of 
our flag. Secretary Garza has requested that I place in the Record the 
text of the resolution adopted by the Texas Legislature. Because of the 
importance that I place on this issue, I am requesting unanimous 
consent that the text of the resolution and the text of a letter from 
Secretary of State Garza be printed in the Record in order that my 
colleagues have an opportunity to read for themselves this important 
expression of the collective will of the people of my State.

  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                               The State of Texas,


                             Office of the Secretary of State,

                                       Austin, TX, April 13, 1995.
     Hon. Phil Gramm,
     U.S. Senator, Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Gramm: Please find enclosed an official copy 
     of Senate Concurrent Resolution 24, as passed by the 74th 
     Legislature, Regular Session, 1995, of the State of Texas.
       The 74th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby petitions 
     the Congress of the United States of America to propose to 
     the states an amendment to the United States Constitution, 
     protecting the American flag and 50 state flags from willful 
     desecration and exempting such desecration from 
     constitutional construction as a First Amendment right.
       It is also requested that this resolution be officially 
     entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the 
     Congress of the United States.
           Sincerely,
                                            Antonio O. Garza, Jr.,
                                               Secretary of State.
       Enclosure.

                    Senate Concurrent Resolution 24

       Whereas, the United States flag belongs to all Americans 
     and ought not be desecrated by any one individual, even under 
     principles of free expression, any more than we would allow 
     desecration of the Declaration of Independence, Statue of 
     Liberty, Lincoln Memorial, Yellowstone National Park, or any 
     other common inheritance which the people of this land hold 
     dear; and
       Whereas, the United States Supreme Court, in contravention 
     of this postulate, has by a narrow decision held to be a 
     First Amendment freedom the license to destroy 
     [[Page S6846]] in protest this cherished symbol of our 
     national heritage; and
       Whereas, whatever legal arguments may be offered to support 
     this contention, the incineration or other mutilation of the 
     flag of the United States of America is repugnant to all 
     those who have saluted it, paraded beneath it on the Fourth 
     of July, been saluted by its half-mast configuration, or 
     raised it inspirationally in remote corners of the globe 
     where they have defended the ideals of which it is 
     representative; and
       Whereas, the members of the Legislature of the State of 
     Texas, while respectful of dissenting political views, 
     themselves dissent forcefully from the court decision, 
     echoing the beliefs of all patriotic Americans that this flag 
     is OUR flag and not a private property subject to a private 
     prerogative to maim or despoil in the passion of individual 
     protest; and
       Whereas, as stated by Chief Justice William Rehnquist,
        writing for three of the four justices who comprised the 
     minority in the case, ``Surely one of the high purposes of 
     a democratic society is to legislate against conduct that 
     is regarded as evil and profoundly offensive to the 
     majority of people--whether it be murder, embezzlement, 
     pollution, or flag burning''; and
       Whereas, this legislature concurs with the court minority 
     that the Stars and Stripes is deserving of a unique sanctity, 
     free to wave in perpetuity over the spacious skies where our 
     bald eagles fly, the fruited plain above which our mountain 
     majesties soar, and the venerable heights to which our 
     melting pot of people and their posterity aspire; now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the 74th Legislature of the State of Texas 
     hereby petition the Congress of the United States of America 
     to propose to the states an amendment to the United States 
     Constitution, protecting the American flag and 50 state flags 
     from willful desecration and exempting such desecration from 
     constitutional construction as a First Amendment right; and, 
     be it further
       Resolved, That official copies of this resolution be 
     prepared and forwarded by the Texas secretary of state to the 
     speaker of the house of representatives and president of the 
     senate of the United States Congress and to all members of 
     the Texas delegation to that congress, with the request that 
     it be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a 
     memorial to the Congress of the United States; and, be it 
     further
       Resolved, That a copy of the resolution be prepared and 
     forwarded also to President Bill Clinton, asking that he lend 
     his support to the proposal and adoption of a flag-protection 
     constitutional amendment; and, be it finally
       Resolved, That official copies likewise be sent to the 
     presiding officers of the legislatures of the several states, 
     inviting them to join with Texas to secure this amendment and 
     to restore this nation's banners to their rightful status of 
     treasured reverence.
     

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