[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2723]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       FLAG PROTECTION AMENDMENT

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, every morning we open the Senate by 
reciting, as we just did a few moments ago, the Pledge of Allegiance. 
Hand over heart, we pay solemn tribute to the American flag, that 
sacred symbol of America's history, values, and principles.
  We are reminded that we are but servants, momentary players in the 
great unfolding of the American story. The flag--transcendent, noble, 
still--commands our humility and binds us in the common project of 
serving the body politic. It is with this understanding that, before 
Congress adjourns for the Fourth of July recess, I intend to bring the 
flag protection amendment to the floor.
  The proposed amendment is simple. It is a one-sentence statement that 
reads: ``The Congress shall have the power to prohibit the physical 
desecration of the flag of the United States.''
  Along with 80 percent of the American public and all 50 of our State 
legislatures, I believe the Constitution should allow laws that protect 
our flag.
  Unfortunately, in 1989, the Supreme Court overturned 200 years of 
precedent and struck down all laws that prohibit flag desecration. I 
believe their decision was misguided. In my view, desecrating the flag 
is not speech but an act of physical assault. We know this when we see 
rioting mobs in foreign countries setting our flag on fire. We can see 
clearly that they are engaged in a specific act of physical aggression 
against our country and everything for which we stand. Whether inside 
or outside our borders, burning the American flag is intended to 
intimidate, not to engage in constructive speech.
  I believe the amendment process is the appropriate remedy to the 
Court's 1989 decision. As Harvard law professor Richard Parker 
explains:

       The amendment process is essential to the Constitution's 
     deepest foundation--the principle of popular sovereignty 
     affirmed in its first words, ``We the people.'' Making use of 
     this process reaffirms and thus preserves that foundation.

  Since I first came to the Senate in 1995, I have supported a 
constitutional amendment to protect our flag.
  The flag is not only the physical symbol of our Nation, our pride, 
and our in history, but also of our values: freedom, justice, 
independence, equality, and, ultimately, we the people. Protecting the 
flag won't stop Americans from exercising their first amendment right 
to free speech.
  Countless brave men and women have died defending the American flag. 
It is but a small, humble act to vote to defend it.
  In the words of our esteemed colleague, Senator Hatch:

       Whatever our differences of party, race, religion, or 
     socio-economic status, the flag reminds us that we are very 
     much one people, united in a shared destiny, bonded in a 
     common faith in our Nation and the profound belief in 
     personal liberty that our Nation protects.

  I look forward to bringing the flag protection amendment to the floor 
for debate, and I am hopeful that we will be able to once and for all 
give the American people the opportunity to defend this noble symbol of 
our shared legacy.

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