On May 24, 2001, a House of Representatives subcommittee approved an amendment that would make it a crime to desecrate the American flag. To become a part of the Constitution, the amendment would have to receive approval by a two-thirds majority of both houses of Congress and ratified by three-fourths of state legislatures.
Last year, the House passed the amendment by the requisite two-thirds majority, 305-124, but the amendment fell four votes shy of a two-thirds majority in the Senate in a 63-37 vote.
So far, 49 state legislatures have at one time or another passed nonbinding resolutions asking Congress to pass the amendment, and there is little doubt that if the flag amendment ever squeaks its way past the Congress that it will quickly become part of the Constitution.
Freedom Forum‘s Phillip Taylor notes that the recent defection of Sen. James Jeffords from the Republican Party could kill the amendment altogether in the Senate this time around. With Democrats in control of the Senate Judiciary committee, the odds are that a similar party line vote will kill the proposal in committee.
Source:
House subcommittee waves through flag amendment. Phillip Taylor, FreedomForum.Org, May 25, 2001.