(RightWing.org) – A Democratic congresswoman has introduced a bill that would give the Justice Department sweeping new powers to crack down on white supremacy. There’s a huge problem with it, though. It doesn’t include any definition of what white supremacy is, and that hands prosecutors a huge blank check.
Tucker Carlson slams a bill proposed by Sheila Jackson Lee:
"This single bill would do more to criminalize speech … than any other piece of legislation that has been proposed in the entire history of this country." pic.twitter.com/5aR8Fbi4u1
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) January 18, 2023
On January 9, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) filed the Leading Against White Supremacy Act. This bill aims to make it easier to prosecute white supremacists and amend US law “to expand the scope of hate crime.” However, the draft legislation doesn’t nail down what actually counts as white supremacy, and that has free speech advocates worried.
The bill would make it an offense to publish anything that advocates the ideology, contains “antagonism based on ‘replacement theory’” or contains hate speech aimed at “any non-White person or group.” This is then seen to be done by someone who takes part in a hate crime motivated by white supremacy. That leaves it up to prosecutors to decide whether the material itself advocates the white supremacy label or a crime was inspired by it. The bill doesn’t set any limits on what can be considered white supremacy, and could potentially be used against anyone who criticizes non-whites.
On January 15, Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) called the bill “a mockery of the First Amendment.”
In case you weren’t aware of what the Democrats were prioritizing in the 118th Congress, just take a look.
When they’re not bankrupting our country, they’re busy making a mockery of the First Amendment. https://t.co/Q8DEEEioTI
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) January 16, 2023
The next day, Fox host Tucker Carlson said Jackson Lee had “devoted her entire political career … to a single cause: Shrieking about white racism.” While Carlson didn’t say so directly, that also drew attention to the fact the bill only covers racist actions directed at non-whites; material promoting anti-white racism wouldn’t be criminalized.
Luckily, this bill is very unlikely to become law. With the GOP now holding a majority in the House, the only way Jackson Lee could get it through is to get bipartisan backing for it — and that’s very unlikely. Of course she knows that, leading Fox to dismiss the bill as “more of a messaging tool than anything else.”
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