Flag burning ban fails in Senate

? By a single vote, the Senate on Tuesday rejected a constitutional amendment that would have given Congress the power to ban flag burning.

The tally in favor of the measure was 66-34, just shy of the two-thirds margin of approval – 67 votes – required for proposed changes to the Constitution.

The amendment’s advocates have been promoting it for years, and they hoped that Republican gains in recent Senate elections would get them to the two-thirds threshold. But three GOP senators broke with the chamber’s other Republicans and provided crucial votes that thwarted the measure.

“Old Glory lost today,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., one of the amendment’s prime backers. “At a time when our armed services are defending America’s freedom in the war on terror, it’s unfortunate that a minority of my colleagues blocked” the proposal.

Those who had fought the idea – most prominently the American Civil Liberties Union – expressed relief.

“The Senate came close to torching our Constitution, but luckily it came through unscathed,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU’s Washington office. “We applaud those brave senators who stood up for the First Amendment and rejected this damaging and needless amendment.”

President Bush expressed regret that the amendment failed. “By showing respect for our flag, we show reverence for the ideals that guide our nation,” he said in a statement. “We show appreciation for the men and women who have served in defense of those ideals.”

And its proponents vowed to continue their fight. The measure’s passage is “not a question of if, but when,” said Marty Justis, executive director of the Citizens Flag Alliance.

The group is a coalition of 147 organizations, including the American Legion, that says it has spent about $25 million on behalf of the amendment – a campaign spurred by a 1989 Supreme Court decision that, in effect, ruled flag desecration is a protected form of political expression