Senator Leahy allowed 6 speakers for the bill, 4 in favor of S.909 and 2 in opposition. This was clearly unfair, and did not allow the bill to be thoroughly scrutinized. Along with limiting the speakers, he also gave a short time frame of only a little more than 2 hours for the arguments. This severely limited what the speakers were able to accomplish, especially for the opposing side.

US Commission on Civil Rights member, Gail Heriot, surprisingly joined Brian W. Walsh, from the Heritage Foundation, and Senator Jeff Sessions in opposition to S.909. Because of the limited time they were only able to make certain points, including that the hate bill is “overly broad” and gives too much authority to the Attorney General, a political appointee, making it so that he has the ability to pick and choose those whom he and the government want to indict. They also argued that the bill would allow for individuals tried under state hate crime laws to be retried under the new federal laws. Lastly, they showed that the hate bill would void the Constitution's promise of equal protection under the law for all Americans.

Many of the Republicans from the committee who were opposed to the bill were not available for the hearings because of the debate over healthcare reform yesterday.  Those that stayed did question Attorney General, Eric Holder, very intently. Asked over and over again whether he could give any example of US states not enforcing laws against hate criminals, Holder could give no answer. Holder was also very open that the bill would only protect certain minorities, and not all people. It was made clear that a Christian white male, even if they are a serviceman or police officer, would not receive protection under this law. This is in clear violation of the 14^th amendment which calls for no legal preference.

TAKE ACTION:

While the hearings are over, there is still hope that this bill can be changed and amended during the Senate mark-up session. Call your Senator today, and those within the Judiciary Committee! Encourage them to continue to fight against S.909.

Call 1-877-851-6437 toll free or 1-202-225-3121 toll.