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Floor Statements

Floor Statement on H.Res. 330, Providing for the Consideration of H.J.Res. 10, A Constitutional Amendment Authorizing Congress to Prohibit Physical Desecration of the Flag of the United States

Washington, DC, June 20, 2005
Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns) indicated this does not implicate free speech. I would simply point out that we see movies all the time. In those movies we see actors dressed up as Nazis, as German soldiers in German World War II trampling and burning the flag. Do we go out and arrest those actors? Of course not, because we know the actors do not mean it; they are playing a role.


But this amendment says if an American citizen to make a point, a point that he disagrees with the actions of his government, were to do the same thing, then we would arrest him. So what are we really saying? It is not the act of the flag burning that matters; it is the point of view associated with the flag burning which is why this is a free speech issue and why we should not pass this amendment.

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