Statement of Senator Dianne Feinstein on a Constitutional Amendment to Prohibit Flag Desecration
March 28, 2000

“I am proud to be here today to support a constitutional amendment to protect our national flag from physical desecration. This amendment would give Congress, and Congress alone, the authority to draft a statute to protect the flag. It would give Congress the opportunity to draft -- carefully and deliberatively -- precise statutory language that clearly defines the contours of prohibited conduct.

Amending the Constitution is serious business. We need to tread carefully. The Constitution is democracy’s sacred text. But the Constitution is also a living text. As originally conceived, it had no Bill of Rights. In all, it has been amended 27 times, most recently in 1992.

If the Constitution is democracy’s sacred text, then the flag is our sacred symbol. If it had no symbolic value, we wouldn’t get chills when we see it lowered to half-mast or draped on a coffin; we wouldn’t beam with pride when we see it flying in front of our homes or at our embassies abroad.

People speak metaphorically about the “fabric” of our society and how it has become frayed. Our flag is the physical fabric of our society, knitting together disparate peoples from distant lands, uniting us in a common bond not just of individual liberty but also responsibility to one another.

In the words of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, it is a “symbol of our freedom, of equal opportunity, of religious tolerance, and of goodwill for other peoples who share our aspirations.” As such, the flag is more precious to us, perhaps, than we may know. And we must protect what is precious.

The unique status of the national flag has been supported by constitutional scholars as diverse as Chief Justices William Rehnquist and Earl Warren, and Associate Justices John Paul Stevens and Hugo Black. The flag flies over our official government buildings throughout the country. It flies over our embassies abroad, a silent -- but strong -- reminder that when in those buildings one is on American soil and afforded all the protections and liberties enjoyed back home.

In 1974, Justice Byron White said that “it is well within the powers of Congress to adopt and prescribe a national flag and to protect the unity of that flag . . . The flag is an important symbol of nationhood and unity, created by the Nation and endowed with certain attributes... There would seem to be little question about the power of Congress to forbid the mutilation of the Lincoln Memorial or to prevent overlaying it with words or other objects. The flag is itself a monument, subject to similar protection.”

I could not agree more with the opinion expressed by Justice White. But since that time, unfortunately, the Supreme Court, in a divided decision, has ruled that this great symbol of our national unity is not protected under the Constitution. That is why we are here today: to begin the process of protecting the flag, which is a symbol of all the protections we are afforded as Americans, and all the liberties we enjoy.

The flag flying over our Capitol building today, the flag flying over my home in San Francisco -- each of these flags, separated by distance but not in symbolic value, is its own monument to everything that America represents, and should be protected as such.

Our history books are filled with the stories of American soldiers who were charged with the responsibility of leading their units into battle by carrying our country’s flag. To them it was more than a task -- it was an honor worth dying for, and many did.

The American flag is a revered object as well as a national symbol. Indeed, it is our monument in cloth. And, I believe that it should be viewed as such— as a revered national object, not simply as one of many vehicles for free speech. Everything about the flag—in its tangible form, in its very fabric—has significance. The shape, the colors, the dimensions, and the arrangement of the patterns help make the flag what it is.

I support the flag amendment because it offers a course to return the nation's flag to the protected status it deserves.”