mr. speaker , i yield myself the balance of my time . 
mr. speaker , the argument that has been made against this amendment is that it infringes upon free speech guaranteed by the first amendment . 
as all of the people who served as justices of the supreme court during the 20th century , i think everybody would recognize that the strongest first amendment absolutist was justice hugo l. black . 
let me read you what justice black said in the case of street v. new york , decided in 1969 : `` it passes my belief that anything in the federal constitution bars a state from making the deliberate burning of an american flag an offense. '' the court changed its mind twice at the end of the decade of the 1980s . 
i do not think that anybody 's free speech rights to express whatever they want to say about a policy , about the position of the american government , about a stand that a candidate makes , a vote that a congressman makes is going to be infringed by the passage of this amendment . 
what is going to be stopped is deliberately burning the symbol of our country or otherwise desecrating it . 
that is what this amendment seeks to prescribe . 
and if you want to stop it , vote `` yes. '' if you do not , vote `` no. '' i am voting `` yes . '' 