MCLU Disappointed that Snowe and Collins Voted Against Free Speech

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Portland- The MCLU announced its disappointment in Senators Snowe and Collins for voting in favor of an amendment that would have given Congress the power to ban flag burning.  The proposed amendment fell one vote short of the 67 it needed to pass. 

“Yesterday we came dangerously close to throwing the first amendment out the window over a virtual non-issue,” said Shenna Bellows, MCLU Executive Director.  “It’s disappointing that Maine’s Senators failed to stand up for the Bill of Rights.”

The MCLU noted that flag burning remains an isolated and rare occurrence, even with the resurgence in political protest prompted by the war in Iraq.  The vote was projected to be the closest it has ever been in the Senate – and it was with the margin of defeat of only one vote.  Proponents hoped that election year pressures would swing the vote their way.

Opposition to the amendment has always been ideologically and politically diverse.   Former Secretary of State and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell said in a 1999 letter, “The First Amendment exists to insure that freedom of speech and expression applies not just to that with which we agree or disagree, but also that which we find outrageous.”  In addition to Powell, former Senator John Glenn and former Reagan Defense Department official Lawrence J. Korb had spoken out against the proposal.  Veterans Defending the Bill of Rights, Veterans for Peace and Veterans for Common Sense had also been vocal in their opposition.

“We are thankful to the Senators who had the good sense and the courage to defend the First Amendment yesterday,” said Bellows.  “Rather than compromising our freedoms, the Senate has done its duty to the American people by protecting the Constitution.”

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