I Read the Hate Crime Legislation

I read the text of the new federal hate crimes bill: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-1592

The bill is limited in its applicability to crimes that involve interstate travel, facilities of interstate communication, or that otherwise have an impact on interstate commerce. This is laughable in view of the Supreme Court’s determination that there is no activity whatsoever that does not have an impact on interstate commerce. All Congress has to do to assert federal jurisdiction is to recite some mumbo jumbo about interstate commerce.

The bill permits the Department of “Justice” to assist local jurisdictions or to prosecute as federal crimes any violent crimes motivated by the victim’s race, creed, etc. This is restrained (irony alert) to some extent by consideration of the impact of such a prosecution or lack of prosecution on the “federal interest” in stamping out bias motivated crime.

I was greatly comforted by the last section:

“Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, shall be construed to prohibit any expressive conduct protected from legal prohibition by, or any activities protected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of, the First Amendment to the Constitution.”

The federales have written themselves a reminder that the First Amendment still pertains. What a relief!

I oppose this bill, not because I don’t think that hate crimes are bad things, but because I oppose all expansions of federal authority. I would have been more comfortable with a bill that limited federal jurisdiction to cases where the local law enforcement and prosecutorial apparatus declined to act, as when a local cop commits a hate crime or when local politics preclude prosecution. Also, I would like to have seen a prohibition on prosecuting cases where a local prosecution had been undertaken.

It should be easy to distinguish a genuine hate crime from a crime that happens to be committed against a member of one of the protected categories but is motivated by ordinary criminal motivations. Of course, that won’t stop zealous prosecutors from pushing the envelope. God only knows how this bill will be abused, but you can bet that it will be.

Bush aims to veto the bill. I reckon he is motivated by his homophobic constituency in the religious right who rejoice in the beatings and murders of gays. Relax, wingnuts, you still get to advocate violence against gays.