The Hate Crimes Prevention Act has gotten a thumbs-down from members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, in the form of a letter to Senate leaders saying the proposed legislation "will do little good and a great deal of harm."
"We regard the broad federalization of crime as a menace to civil liberties," the commissioners wrote. "There is no better place to draw the line on that process than with a bill that purports to protect civil rights."
The commission, not known for being on the side of social conservatives on policy issues, has an ally in Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. He pointed out that hate-crimes legislation fundamentally changes the idea of equal justice under law to arbitrary justice based on the race, religion or sexual orientation of the victim or the criminal.
"It really forces our courts and our judges to begin to anticipate what people were thinking when they committed a crime, rather than whether they committed the crime or not."
But he said the worst part of the hate-crimes bill is it could restrict free speech, "because if a pastor stands up and preaches that the Word of God says that homosexuality is wrong, that pastor could be accused of hate speech and could even be accused or charged with inducing someone to commit a crime against a homosexual."
Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, agreed.
"This particular hate-crimes bill would be the first time the federal government disapproves of a valid, sincerely held religious belief held by a majority of Americans," he explained. "And that's very troubling for free speech and free exercise of religion."
But Stanley said it's not a foregone conclusion.
"The only real chance in stopping the hate-crimes bill is to stop it in the Senate, and to stop it before the Senate votes on it," he said. "President Obama has made it very clear that should it pass the Senate he's going to sign it into law."
-- Roger Greer
