Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1990 TAG: 9006130158
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
House Speaker Thomas Foley said he would allow a vote within two weeks, but added he would break tradition and vote on the measure himself to emphasize his opposition.
"What that flag encapsules is too sacred to be abused," Bush said at the White House after receiving on his 66th birthday a miniature replica of the Iwo Jima Memorial, the Marines' famed flag-raising sculpture.
Bush joined Republican lawmakers in demanding quick action from the Democratic-controlled House and Senate on the amendment, which would restore legal protections wiped out by Supreme Court rulings last June and again on Monday.
Foley, D-Wash., said they would get their vote, but he also voiced his own dissent. "Every country has a flag. We are one of the few countries that has a Bill of Rights," he said before Bush spoke.
Support by even a lopsided majority may not be enough to change the Constitution. The Founding Fathers devised obstacles to shield America's basic principles from erosion in a rush of temporary passion.
"I would be surprised if it were adopted," said University of Virginia law professor A.E. "Dick" Howard. "Many amendments are proposed and few are adopted."
If a proposed amendment is approved by two-thirds votes in the House and Senate, it then must be ratified by 38 state legislatures.
Of 10,000 amendments proposed in Congress, only 26 have been ratified, including the first 10 that comprise the Bill of Rights.
Howard predicted the calls in Congress for prompt action soon will lead to "sober reflection" tempering the rhetoric. And, he said, if the amendment musters the required two-thirds majorities in Congress, it will face "a long road in the legislatures." Many of them are not due to meet again until 1991.
Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder said Tuesday he would support such an amendment.
"Having been sent to die for the cause of the flag, my sentiments are such that it arouses in me a great deal of emotion," said Wilder, a combat veteran of the Korean War. "I would indeed support the amendment."
Even proponents concede ratification will not come easily.
"I think candidly it will be a difficult vote," said Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., the House minority whip, who backs an amendment.
History, at least, is on the side of amendment opponents.
The Constitution has been amended only four times in response to Supreme Court rulings:
Only once has an existing amendment been amended: The 18th Amendment outlawed liquor sales in 1919 but was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.
by CNB