“Last year, the House passed this desecration of the First Amendment by an eight-vote margin. And on May 4, by a 6-3 vote, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution also placed the First Amendment in jeopardy. If approved by the full Judiciary Committee, it may be that only one or two votes on the Senate floor will keep the First Amendment intact. Otherwise, President Bush will surely sign it while declaring his devotion to our values.”

“The day before Flag Day last year, the Houston Chronicle underlined what we will lose if this amendment becomes law: ‘It makes no sense to set fire to the Bill of Rights to prevent a few people from protesting in a way that many find offensive. The right to speak our minds in public and engage in protest is at the core of our system of government. The only way to effectively desecrate the American flag would be to undercut the freedom for which it stands.’ And Sen. Robert Byrd, who carries the Constitution in his DNA, speaks for James Madison across the centuries: ‘In the final analysis, it is the Constitution not the flag that is the foundation and guarantor of the people’s liberties.’ …