Flag Amendment Near Again

The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights voted 6-3 to approve a proposed amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the physical desecration of the U.S. flag. Although the 58 Senate cosponsors are nine short of the two-thirds required to send it to the states, American Legion commander Thomas L. Bock asserts that it is within one vote of passage. A similar amendment has been approved by the House six times since 1995, but the measure has failed in the Senate each year. The resolution reads, “The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.”