WASHINGTON, JUNE 22, 2005 - Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Ocala) spoke out on the House floor today in support of H.J. Res. 10, which proposes an amendment to the Constitution that would authorize the Congress to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States. Stearns stated, "Before and after the ratification of the First Amendment, the States prohibited the physical desecration of the American flag. Over the next 200 years, everyone understood that any prohibition of physically desecrating the American flag was allowable under Federal, state and common law, and understood to be consistent with freedom of speech."
Continued Stearns, "Civil libertarian jurists such as Chief Justice Earl Warren, Justice Hugo Black and Justice Abe Fortas wrote that the states and federal government have the power to protect the American flag. This amendment does not really restrict freedom of expression, because no ideas or viewpoints would be suppressed. Anyone can still freely say that they hate America and everything for which it stands, they just can't burn a flag to prove their point."
"There are so many exceptions to free speech: child pornography, cross burning, libel, fighting words," concluded Stearns. "We are merely looking to add one more extremely narrow exception to prevent the desecration of the symbol that represents so many wonderful things to so many people, at home and around the world."
In order to be enacted, H.J. Res. 10 will also have to be adopted by a two-thirds majority in the Senate, and then ratified by three-fourths of America's state legislatures. All 50 states currently have laws against flag desecration.
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