The Flag Burning Amendment reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Flag Burning Amendment

The Flag Burning Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would have outlawed burning the Flag of the United States.

The full text of the amendment was:

The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.

This was intended to give Congress the right to make laws in which burning the United States flag in a public protest could be a criminal action. Many argued that burning the flag was a very offensive gesture. Many more, however ultimately argued that giving Congress such a power was essentially limiting the freedom of speech enshrined in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The amendment has been repeatedly passed by the United States House of Representatives, the first time being in 1995. However, it has consistently failed to obtain the necessary two-thirds majority of Senate votes. The Senate last rejected the amendment in 2000 when a 63-37 vote fell four votes short of the required majority.

49 states have passed private bills expressing support for the proposed amendment, but these are not legally binding.

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