Tim Scott: “I ask the gentleman to yield so I can respond briefly to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns) because I think it is…”

“I ask the gentleman to yield so I can respond briefly to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns) because I think it is important to know about the importance of the first amendment. When we talk about some burning would be legal and some would not, if someone is being arrested because of the message, if someone is burning the flag and says something nice about the Vietnam War, would that be desecration? If someone says something in protest of the Vietnam War, would that be desecration? It is the same act. If the local sheriff happens to be of a particular view on that, he would want to arrest the burner because he is offended. Mr. Speaker, that is why it is important that we have the first clause in the Watt amendment. It would have to be consistent with the first amendment. The first amendment would say that one cannot restrict by virtue of the content. We can restrict the way the flag is burned, the time the flag is burned, but not the message delivered when the burning is going on.”