1-1 By: Patterson S.C.R. No. 24
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed January 16, 1995; January 19, 1995,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
1-4 February 14, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas
1-5 9, Nays 0; February 14, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1-7 WHEREAS, The United States flag belongs to all Americans and
1-8 ought not be desecrated by any one individual, even under
1-9 principles of free expression, any more than we would allow
1-10 desecration of the Declaration of Independence, Statue of Liberty,
1-11 Lincoln Memorial, Yellowstone National Park, or any other common
1-12 inheritance which the people of this land hold dear; and
1-13 WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court, in contravention of
1-14 this postulate, has by a narrow decision held to be a First
1-15 Amendment freedom the license to destroy in protest this cherished
1-16 symbol of our national heritage; and
1-17 WHEREAS, Whatever legal arguments may be offered to support
1-18 this contention, the incineration or other mutilation of the flag
1-19 of the United States of America is repugnant to all those who have
1-20 saluted it, paraded beneath it on the Fourth of July, been saluted
1-21 by its half-mast configuration, or raised it inspirationally in
1-22 remote corners of the globe where they have defended the ideals of
1-23 which it is representative; and
1-24 WHEREAS, The members of the Legislature of the State of
1-25 Texas, while respectful of dissenting political views, themselves
1-26 dissent forcefully from the court decision, echoing the beliefs of
1-27 all patriotic Americans that this flag is OUR flag and not a
1-28 private property subject to a private prerogative to maim or
1-29 despoil in the passion of individual protest; and
1-30 WHEREAS, As stated by Chief Justice William Rehnquist,
1-31 writing for three of the four justices who comprised the minority
1-32 in the case, "Surely one of the high purposes of a democratic
1-33 society is to legislate against conduct that is regarded as evil
1-34 and profoundly offensive to the majority of people--whether it be
1-35 murder, embezzlement, pollution, or flag burning"; and
1-36 WHEREAS, This legislature concurs with the court minority
1-37 that the Stars and Stripes is deserving of a unique sanctity, free
1-38 to wave in perpetuity over the spacious skies where our bald eagles
1-39 fly, the fruited plain above which our mountain majesties soar, and
1-40 the venerable heights to which our melting pot of peoples and their
1-41 posterity aspire; now, therefore, be it
1-42 RESOLVED, That the 74th Legislature of the State of Texas
1-43 hereby petition the Congress of the United States of America to
1-44 propose to the states an amendment to the United States
1-45 Constitution, protecting the American flag and 50 state flags from
1-46 wilful desecration and exempting such desecration from
1-47 constitutional construction as a First Amendment right; and, be it
1-48 further
1-49 RESOLVED, That official copies of this resolution be prepared
1-50 and forwarded by the Texas secretary of state to the speaker of the
1-51 house of representatives and president of the senate of the United
1-52 States Congress and to all members of the Texas delegation to that
1-53 congress, with the request that it be officially entered in the
1-54 Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United
1-55 States; and, be it further
1-56 RESOLVED, That a copy of the resolution be prepared and
1-57 forwarded also to President Bill Clinton, asking that he lend his
1-58 support to the proposal and adoption of a flag-protection
1-59 constitutional amendment; and, be it finally
1-60 RESOLVED, That official copies likewise be sent to the
1-61 presiding officers of the legislatures of the several states,
1-62 inviting them to join with Texas to secure this amendment and to
1-63 restore this nation's banners to their rightful status of treasured
1-64 reverence.
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