Hate Crimes or Thought Crimes? Aderholt Opposes Unnecessary Bill That Threatens Equal Justice, Freedom of Speech

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Aderholt voted today in opposition to H.R. 1592, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007, a bill that undermines the constitutional principle of equal justice under the law as well as freedom of speech. The bill passed the House by a vote of 237 to 180.

“The Bill of Rights was added to our Constitution expressly to protect the rights of all Americans,” Congressman Aderholt stated. “Not just certain Americans, but all of them. The bill that passed the House today ignores the principle of equal justice under the law and threatens to place limits on Americans’ freedom of speech, exactly the opposite of what the Founding Fathers intended.”

Equal justice under the law is one of the cornerstones of the U.S. Constitution, providing equality and justice for all Americans regardless of race, sex or status. According to the Constitution, justice should be blind to the personal traits of victims. Under this bill, justice is no longer equal, but turns on the race, gender, sexual orientation, disability or other protected status of the victim.

“This bill not only tramples equal justice under the law, it goes several steps further” added Congressman Aderholt. “There is concern out there that if this bill becomes law that religious leaders or members of religious groups could be criminally prosecuted based on comments that are taken out of context.”

Hate crimes legislation, as represented by this bill, has already been used by left-leaning local governments to target expressions of traditional morality as “hate speech.” In New York for example, a pastor who had rented billboards and posted biblical quotations on sexual morality had them taken down by city officials who cited hate-crimes principles as justification.

Additionally, the bill creates a new federal “thought crime” that requires law enforcement officials to probe, infer and deduce if a crime occurred “because of” bias towards a protected group, with a new grants program that could accidentally lead to false accusations of motive. A criminal’s thoughts will be considered an element of the crime, which the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

Congressman Aderholt concluded, “No one should harbor hate or ill-will toward another person; I condemn that and I believe most Americans do. However, this is a situation where a person is given privileged status and protection based on their race, gender, sexual orientation or disability.”