mr. speaker , i yield myself 1 minute just for the purpose of responding to this . 
i do not agree at all with my chair , as much as i respect him , that this codifies anything . 
what it does is that it codifies and reaffirms and acknowledges the state of affairs that exists right now , that in the final analysis the supreme court is the ultimate arbiter of the constitution and laws of our country . 
after we pass my amendment or the underlying amendment , the supreme court is still going to be the ultimate arbiter of that , and so my amendment neither does that or does not do it . 
his amendment does not do it . 
if the supreme court changes its mind , the composition of the supreme court changes , and they decide that burning a flag is prohibited , is not protected under the first amendment , then that is going to be the last word on it . 
we do not have any way to go on that . 
so i do not think i can agree with him that i am doing anything different than preserving the state of affairs . 
mr. speaker , i yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from virginia ( mr. scott ) xz4003641 , my good friend . 
