Candidates support ban on flag burning

Benjamin Grove

Friday, March 31, 2000 | 11:35 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Three Nevada contenders for seats in Congress said they would support a constitutional amendment allowing Congress to ban flag burning.

Former Congressman and now Senate candidate John Ensign voted for the amendment in 1995 and 1997 when he served in the House and still backs the measure, his spokeswoman, Sari Greenberg, said. Ensign could not be reached for comment Thursday or today.

Ensign's Democratic opponent, attorney Ed Bernstein, also said he would favor an amendment. Ensign and Bernstein are battling for the seat of retiring Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev.

"As an attorney, the First Amendment is incredibly important," Bernstein said. "As an attorney, I have fought for the First Amendment. But there is so much hurt in the eyes of veterans, if you look in the eyes of a veteran who has lost a leg. And that flag is the reason, in their eyes, that they gave their leg for their country. There are so many other ways to express that First Amendment right."

The emotional flag burning issue surfaced again this week in the Senate.

The stances of Nevada's Senate contenders on the issue could prove important if Congress decides to pursue it again next year.

The Senate seems to be the only stumbling block to the amendment passing. The House three times since 1995 has passed a constitutional amendment that would give Congress power to prohibit flag desecration. But the Senate has not.

The Senate on Wednesday voted 63-37, just four votes shy of a two-thirds majority needed to pass the constitutional amendment.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., voted for it. But Bryan switched his vote this year and voted against the amendment. He said he abhors flag burning but no longer believes America needs a constitutional amendment on the issue.

That means if the Senate chose to vote again after elections this year, the body likely would be one vote -- Ensign or Bernstein -- closer to passing the Amendment.

Republican Jon Porter, who is challenging Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., has the same view as Ensign and Bernstein, Berkley and current Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.

Porter said his respect for the flag is rooted in the beliefs of his father, a World War II veteran.

"Growing up, it was the one symbol in his mind that embodied America," Porter said.