The Senate today approved legislation intended to outlaw flag burning and other forms of flag defacement, setting the stage for a battle later this month over a proposed constitutional amendment to accomplish the same purpose.
Many Democrats hope the legislation, approved by a vote of 91 to 9, will take the edge off the drive for an amendment barring flag burning, which critics say would involve needless tinkering with the Bill of Rights.
Such an amendment has the backing of President Bush, the Republican leadership in Congress, and many rank-and-file Democrats.
The White House has given no indication that it will veto the legislation, but has repeatedly reaffirmed its preference for an amendment. Some Adjustments Are Made
The House has already passed a version of the bill and is soon expected to give final approval to the legislation passed by the Senate, which made some adjustments to the House bill.
Continue reading the main storyThe legislation is intended to circumvent a Supreme Court ruling in June that flag burning is a protected expression of free speech.
To satisfy the First Amendment concerns of the Court, an effort was made to confine the legislation to the act of flag burning rather than the political message of the burners.
Many supporters of a constitutional amendment say that the effort is doomed to failure and that the measure will not pass muster with the Supreme Court. Two Parts Are Killed
Democratic leaders tried today to beat back two efforts by Republicans to amend the measure with language that some Democrats feared would raise constitutional problems. One effort involved a prohibition on ''physically defiling'' the flag. An attempt to kill that part of the bill failed by a vote of 31 to 69, with several Democrats switching their votes when it was clear that the amendment would survive.
The Democratic leadership, led by Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, succeeded in killing the other amendment.
That measure, proposed by Senator Bob Dole, the Republican leader, would have stipulated that the legislation ban public acts of flag desecration. It was killed by a vote of 53 to 47.
A measure asking for a constitutional amendment to outlaw flag burning is expected to come to the Senate floor the week of Oct. 16; approval would require the support of two-thirds of the senators present and voting. Democrats who oppose the measure are now conducting a head count to measure their forces. The Way the Parties Split
The nine senators voting against the measure today fell into two categories. Six of them support neither a statute nor a constitutional amendment: two Democrats, John H. Chafee of Rhode Island and Gordon Humphrey of New Hampshire, and four Democrats, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio and Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York.
Three other senators, all Republicans, voted against the legislation and voiced a preference for a constitutional amendment: Mr. Dole, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Orrin G. Hatch of Utah. Many senators who voted for the legislation have indicated they also support an amendment.
The Senate spent a day and a half on the flag-burning measure this week, even as it struggled with an array of budget and other legislation piling up. George J. Mitchell, the Senate Majority Leader, told reporters today that he ''regretted'' that the Senate spent so much time on the flag measure this week but said it was out of his control.
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