European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 20, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 a the stars and stripes Tom Wicke Between a Rock and a hard place on Flag burning the renewed Appe Arani f h the spurious a the supreme court puts an or a m a Tab e so Coze on those americans who want to preserve the b Iloh As the guarantor of the m ire supreme court s hands s the Flag pc a t passed last a. The c Roar Ess 5.5 head off amendment to the Constitution that had been proposed but president Bush in the most demagogic act of s Admir Stratton. While standing theatrical. Before the iwo Otma me a ment. Bush last a ear offered an amendment to Over trn a supreme court ruling that had held hag burning to be political speech protected a. The first Amend fag burning posed no More danger to the than it does now. The president s obvious real was to profit from Public outrage at the c offs opinion. In Pursuit of popularity. He was willing to be the first president in history to seek restriction of the Bill of rights. I Quot the court upholds the rag Protection hat. passed instead of Bush s proposed amendment a precedent will base been set that would Al c an to Are Congress to funner override first a Quot a c r. Or u z i it res it. A the court proper strikes Down the Law. Ingress again i has a to face the far worse Alternan. Be it Treb a r amendment a and this time in an d / r. C 5 r the amendment would be More damaging than the w w because an amendment becomes pan of the con St t to. it sen. As , noted this one would Amend and limit fur the first time a Bill of rights that is fundamental to americans Liberty. The congressional act at least tries trough in .air., to avoid the free speech Issue. The justices could uphold it on it if a majority agreed that Congress real had made the Law Quot Content Neutral Quot a that is. That the statute prevents defacing the fag without reference to whether the act of defacement was an expression of opinion. While listening to the Issue being argued before the court. Justice staha demolished the Content Neutral argument. People who bum the Flag he pointed out certainly do express an opinion Quot they re saying. We hate the United states. Quot expression of that kind of opinion May be deplorable but. As the court ruled in the Texas Case that precipitated the original controversy last Yean Quot if there is a Bedrock principle underlying the first amendment. Walter r. Mears it is that the government May not prohibit the expression of an idea simple because society finds the idea itself that is the Bedrock principle that Bush proposes to eliminate from the Constitution. But passage of Bush a proposed amendment is Only a future possibility the flawed rag Protection act is already a Law. For that reason those who believe the first amendment should be left alone to play its traditional role of protecting Freedom of speech Freedom of religion and Freedom of Assembly have no real Choice but to Hope the court overturns the act a just As it struck Down the Texas fag burning legislation. Unfortunately if the Law is found unconstitutional there May be a political Stampede to pass the Bush amendment. Sen. Joseph Biden. A Dei. The chairman of the judiciary committee says hell introduce and support the amendment if the Law is overruled. House speaker Thomas Foley who would oppose it. Nevertheless pledges to bring the amen dec the House floor for debate. In an election year the president pressing hard for passage and w legislative alternative available Many senator representatives might find it hard to oppose crass piece of false patriotism a the Bill of Rig damned. Last year the Senate voted Down the Bush a ment by 48 to 51 a the 51 yeas falling far Short two thirds 67 votes majority needed for Passa constitutional amendment. Too bad the matter was t left at that when Gress went on to pass the rag Protection act. Illusory Hope that somehow it might survive co tonal scrutiny this second round of divisive a debate was Al but assured. Now there is no help for it. If the supreme court follows its own precedent in the Texas Case members of Congress will have to vote for or against the Bill of rights As it has stood for 200 scars. A amp York tres a i Corr it the i Cal in an election year the Safe vote is for the Flag the grand old Flag Issue is Back just in time for the political fireworks season. It will ignite some no matter which Way the supreme court rules on the Law against fag burning overturn it and Congress will quickly consider and almost certainly approve a constitutional amendment to ban burning the american fag just As certainly the Showoff who helped generate the Issue in the first place will show up again with flags and matches. There Aren t Many of them and not Many flags would be burned. Enough to fuel the Independence Day political oratory. Though and to help put the whole matter into the Middle of the congressional and state election campaigns. With the Law upheld and a jail term threatening there would be fewer fag burnings or defacing. But the same handful of demonstrators would set about finding other ways to make themselves offensive. And they probably would succeed. But with a big difference. If the court upholds the statute they will be a Brief sideshow. Should the Law be overturned they will get a new round of National attention As Congress begins the process of trying to write a ban on fag burning into the Constitution. The More effective Way to get fag burning off the Agenda would be to ignore the people who do it since there Aren t Many of them and they w Oul Dnn to bother if nobody paid attention. But that seems a political impossibility. The fag buying episode that caused the whole controversy dates from the 1984 Republican National convention in Dallas it went largely unnoticed for five years until the court overturned the conviction of the demonstrator involved. That produced the Issue overnight. With the Issue came the demonstrators who tend to vanish if ignored then the new Law. The rag Protection act of 1989 makes it a crime punishable by up to a year in prison to bum mutilate deface or trample a fag it was passed in an Effort to overturn by statute the supreme courts reversal of a Texas Law against Flag burning the court held that that Law violated the first amendment guarantee to Freedom of speech. President Bush wanted a Constitution Al amendment adopted then on grounds that an act of Congress could t reverse the court ruling and protect the fag from burning but democrats pushed the Law instead of an amendment. Bush let it take effect without his signature. The Law overturned in Texas banned the burning or defacing of the fag As an act of contempt that would seriously offend others. The new Federal Law does t mention motives it simply bans the desecration of the fag. As soon As it was enacted it was challenged by demonstrators who burned flags on the Steps of the Capitol and outside a Federal court in Seattle. Federal judges in both cities held the Law unconstitutional. The supreme court then took it up on a fast track heard arguments on monday and will Issue its decision before recessing for the summer. Speaker of the House Thomas s. Foley has promised he will put a constitutional amendment on fag burning up to a vote w within 30 Days if the court overturns the statute. He also said he would vote no because there should be no tinkering with the Bill of rights. Such an amendment would be the first change in the first amendment since it was aupied 199 years ago. It would take a two thirds vote in each House of Congress to approve an amendment and Send it to the states for rat Tea Tion. Three quarters of them o 38. Would be needed in order to make r. Pan of the Constitution. The amendment Bush was pushing came to a vote in the Senate last year. It got 51 votes 16 Short of an absolute iwo thirds margin. But some senators to voted against it said they would support an amendment should the statute be overturned. And majorities in both parties probably would line up that Wax gov. Mario Cuomo of new York warned of the political risks in a grief submitted to the court saying that r. Or Sal Quot would almost certainly trigger a divisive Battle in Congress and in the states Quot Over amending the Constitution. The Safe vote would be for patriotism and the fag especially in an election year. The ratification process would take a lot longer and every time a state legislature dealt with it the tiny fraternity of Flag burners could emerge to Infante the Issue. W after r Mears has reported 00 3 Bond of abcs Tor the associated press Kex 26 years j
