“While America slept on Wednesday April 25 we woke up to find headlines about how Michelle Obama likes to sneak out and eat at fun restaurants. Not so well covered by the media was the passage of the Hate Crimes bill re-introduced and passed in committee by John Conyers. (D-MI) What does it mean?
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The ‘hate crimes bill’ is an affront to states sovereignty and if misinterpreted by any level of law enforcement will quickly become a ‘thought policing’ bill to wrest even more freedoms from the average citizen by essentially demanding that special groups get special justice.” (Read more from canadafreepress.com)
“All violent crimes should be vigorously prosecuted – but this novel legal approach violates several core principles and holds a number of dangers.
1) It violates the ‘equal protection of the laws’ by protecting some victims more than others. This is a principle which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and is even carved above the entrance to the Supreme Court (‘Equal Justice Under Law’). Do we somehow care less about a victim who is violently assaulted because of a robbery or personal dispute than we do about a victim who is assaulted because they belong in a federally protected category?
2) It punishes thoughts and not just actions. Advocates of the bill deny this because it only authorizes prosecution of someone who ‘willfully causes bodily injury’ or ‘attempts to cause bodily injury.’ But such acts are already crimes under state law. What converts the acts targeted by this bill into a federal offense are the thoughts or opinions of the perpetrator alone. Since every violent crime manifests some sort of ‘hate,’ it makes more sense to think of this as a ‘thought crimes’ law.
3) It constitutes a major federal power grab from states and localities. A version of this bill in an earlier Congress was dubbed the ‘Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act.’ It might better be known as the ‘Local Law Enforcement Usurpation Act.’ In fact, it would even allow prosecution of an individual who had already been prosecuted and acquitted for the same act at the state level-which violates the constitutional protection against double jeopardy.” (Read more from conservativeunderground.com)