eedoms. For an amendment to the Constitution to be made, “The house and the Senate have to propose (each by 2/3 vote) exactly the same text before the amendment is open for ratification by the states” (Apel “Hasbrouck”). If the amendment (to the First Amendment) is passed in both chambers, it then goes to the states for ratification. In 1990, both the House and Senate failed “to muster the required two-thirds majority to pass the Flag Protection Amendment (Citizens’). In 1995, however, the amendment cleared the House by a vote of 312-120. This Senate Joint Resolution 31 (S.J. Res. 31) was also passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 12-6, but was then rejected by the Senate by only 3 votes. In February of 1998, Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Max Cleland (D-GA) reintroduced the amendment as S.J. Res. 40, but it was decided that there was not enough time left in the term to vote on the amendment. Most recently, in March of 1999, the Flag Protection Amendment was reintroduced once again as S. J. Res. 14. Once again, it was passed in the House and by the Senate Judiciary Committee, but to date has not become ratified. Among those against the original amendment in 1990 were George Mitchell, Tom Daschle, Patrick Leahy, Dale Bumpers, David Boren, Howard Metzenbaum, Barbara Mikulski, Jeff Bingaman, Bill Bradley, Paul Simon, and Christopher Dodd. Perhaps the most ardent opponent to the amendment was Ted Kennedy. In an eloquent speech he gave on June 11, 1990 he stated: When we pledge allegiance to the flag, we pledge allegiance to the principles for which it stands. Few, if any, of those are more fundamental to the strength of our democracy than the first amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech. Let us not start down this disastrous road of restricting the majestic scope of the first amendment by picking the kinds of speech that are to be permitted in our society. He goes on to mentio...
