Flag Amendment Fails by One Vote

With a count of 66 ayes and 34 nays, the proposed amendment by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to authorize Congress to legislate against desecrating the U.S. flag failed to meet the required two-thirds vote. The amendment would have read, “The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.” The vote on June 27 was the closest to passage in four Senate votes since the Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that flag burning was a form of speech protected by the First Amendment. The house passes such legislation almost annually and did so last year by 286-130. If the amendment had been approved by the Senate, it would have required ratification by at least 38 states within seven years in order to become the Constitution’s 28th amendment. Supporters say that more than 38 states already have endorsed an amendment.