06.23.05
Posted in Politics at 11:28 pm by Craig
The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.
Presumably, the purpose of proposing this as the 28th amendment is that it would allow Congress to pass anti-desecration laws without being restricted by the 1st amendment. Does this mean then that Congress could in theory pass a flag-protection law without regard to
any pre-existing provision of the constitution? Would penalties for flag desecration be able to be cruel and unusual? Would their enforcement require due process of law? Would the President be able to veto any such law which Congress presented to him? If Congress determined that registered Democrats were statistically more likely to burn flags, then could they enact a law to round up all the Democrats and send them to Gitmo, lest they desecrate a flag? Is there anything which couldn’t be done by Congress in the name of protecting the flag?
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