What nation's top prosecutor gets wrong on 'hate speech' [View all]

By Barbara McQuade / Bloomberg Opinion

What is the federal offense of “hate speech”?

It’s a good question because there is no such offense. That didn’t stop U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi from threatening to use the authority of her office to combat it. “We will absolutely target you, go after you,” she said, “if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”

Bondi made the comment following the murder of Charlie Kirk. On a podcast hosted by Katie Miller, a former DOGE official and the wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Bondi explained her understanding of the law: “There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech. And there is no place; especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society.”

In fact, hate speech is free speech. The blessing and the curse of our First Amendment rights is that they allow us to say hideously offensive things without criminal consequence. The messages online celebrating the death of Kirk may be repugnant to most of us, but the government cannot put someone in prison simply for expressing them. Just as when the Supreme Court allowed the Nazis to march in a Jewish community in Skokie, Illinois, in 1977, Americans remain free to say despicable things.

You might get fired from your job for making awful statements that could reflect poorly on your employer. The First Amendment applies to government action, not private companies. But the Justice Department cannot “go after” you for hate speech.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-what-nations-top-prosecutor-gets-wrong-on-hate-speech/