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Jewish Groups Set To Fight Veto of Hate-Crimes Bill
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More in NewsWashington - Jewish groups are gearing up to fight the president’s expected veto of a hate crimes bill opposed by Christian conservatives.
The measure, which broadens the authority of the federal government in dealing with hate crimes, is strongly opposed by the Bush administration and by the religious right, at least in part because it expands the definition of hate crimes to include violence motivated by discrimination based on gender or on sexual orientation.
Jewish organizations are playing a leading role in the coalition pushing the bill, with almost all of them — except the Orthodox ones — taking action to promote the passage of the measure. The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime Prevention Act of 2007 passed the House floor last week, in a 237-180 vote. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to begin debating the bill within two weeks.
In past attempts, the hate crimes bill easily gained the support of a significant majority of the Senate. So, supporters of the bill said, they are expecting the major opposition to the measure to come from the White House and from Christian conservative groups.
In a letter to lawmakers, circulated on the day of the House vote, the administration made clear that it would take action to stop the bill, known as H.R. 1592, from becoming law. “If H.R. 1592 were presented to the President, his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill,” the letter stated.
The purpose of the bill, which has been in the works for 12 years, is to allow the Department of Justice to assist state and local law enforcement agencies in investigating and prosecuting hate crimes and, in certain instances, to take over the entire case.
The measure also broadens the definition of hate crimes to include those crimes motivated by bias based not only on race, religion and national origin but also on gender, sexual orientation and “gender identity.”
As a result, religious conservative groups argue that the measure could be interpreted as giving de facto federal recognition to gays and lesbians and restricting the freedom of speech of religious leaders who take a public stand against homosexuality. One of these groups, the Traditional Values Coalition, put out a flier depicting Jesus in a “wanted” poster for “violations of the proposed hate crime law in his teachings and in his book ‘The Bible.’”
While adding the sexual orientation and gender categories to the bill is widely regarded as the main impediment to getting it approved, the White House is formally stressing other problems it sees with the proposed legislation.
In the letter to Congress, the president’s executive office notes that there is no need for a new federal law, since states already have their own hate crimes legislation. The White House also argues that the bill raises constitutional questions because it federalizes criminal offenses that are under a particular state’s jurisdiction.
Michael Lieberman, Washington counsel for the Anti-Defamation League and chair of the coalition of 290 organizations supporting the hate crimes bill, rejected these arguments.
“Every major law enforcement organization in the country is backing this bill,” Lieberman said.
According to Lieberman, the main concern was never the constitutional questions. “If we’d drop the gender and sexual orientation issue, it would have passed 10 years ago, but we’re not going to do that,” he said.
According to the ADL official, sexual orientation is the third most common means of motivation for violent hate crimes, behind race and religion.
“People in the Jewish community have a strong memory and good understanding of the impact hate crimes have,” said Hadar Susskind, Washington director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. The JCPA mobilized tens of local Jewish groups to contact their congressmen on the issue.
Two Orthodox groups — the Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel of America — have serious concerns about the bill, but they are not taking any action for or against the measure. “We are still studying it,” said Nathan Diament, Washington representative of the Orthodox Union.
Diament did say that the Orthodox groups view as positive a provision added by the House, which makes clear that the bill does not infringe on religious rights. Abba Cohen of Agudath Israel said the group referred the bill to its rabbinical leadership in order for it to decide whether to support it in light of the new provisions that have been added.
In an effort to pressure the president not to use his veto pen to block this legislation, Jewish groups are organizing letters and meetings that aim to stress the importance that the Jewish community sees in passing the bill. Other groups will take similar action: mainstream Christian and other religious organizations, law enforcement agencies and women’s rights advocacy groups.
“We believe that after the president sees the support this bill has in the law enforcement community and with other groups, he will listen and sign the bill,” Lieberman said.
If this mobilization does not manage to convince the White House, supporters of the bill intend to attach the measure to a “must pass” piece of legislation, making it difficult for the president to exercise his veto.
Comments
As a Jew, I fear this onslaught of thought crime, not the meaningless "hate crime". Introducing motive as an element of crime is a pernicious move where criminal law had never gone before (except perhaps in the 20th Century Soviet sphere).
I urge the President to veto this travesty and Jews everywhere should understand the evil this does to our law.
This is nothing more than a license to muzzle free speech of those who criticize "special" groups. A crime is a crime, and words are not crimes. For every crime that we Jews think will and should be defined as a "hate crime", the law will also present opportunities for the opponents of Jews to hide behind our legitimate criticisms with the charge that our words are also hate crimes. This is already happening, you may have noticed. Why should we have special groups of victims? Are men in the armed forces uniforms victims when spat upon? Is every rape of a woman a hate crime? Only of some women, and not others? I urge you to work to reject thsi bill.
this 'legislation' will spell THE END of the jews in the 'Kwa...so: keep pushing it, [word deleted]s!
this 'legislation' will spell 'THE END' of the [word deleted]z in the 'Kwa: so: by all means: KEEP PUSHING IT!
Get out of the USA jews. You never fought for this land. you follow on the heels of the white man and then try to legislate laws against those who conquered this land. You're pathetic.
Passage of this law will signal the historical end of Jewish power in America. They've done this two hundred times in the past 2000 years in every country they've ever been welcomed into ... provoke the natives to the point they are left no other option but to react.
Don't think Jews will leave you alone if you remain silent. They won't. Ask the people in the Ukraine. If you give way to them on all they ask, no matter how ridiculous, they will not spare you, rather they will rush to kill you first and foremost out of contempt for your weakness.
If anyone thinks that silly thought crime legislation will prevent the coming blood bath in the USA, think again. When laws or leaders are unjust it is the right and duty of a people to remove them. Mark my word, it WILL happen and there is nothing anyone can do to prevent it.
Thank you for your work. We are currently working to get this through the Senate. If you would like to join our efforts, visit:
Trying to define thoughts and words as crimes has always resulted in A: disaster for freedom, B:not doing much at all to stop the 'crimes' it was intended to nail.
Case in point? Try suing a tabloid for slander. Their laywers can evade you for years because the courts simply can't pin down what is harmful speech. That is simply a limitation of said legal system! It can't be done!
It is a joke that anyone would NOT consider passing this bill. I sometimes wonder how it is that we all live in the same world.
While I am not a Jew, I shed many tears for them over the years as I read about and watched (on films) the horrid crimes against them. I am quite amazed that any Jews would be supporting H. R. 1592. I am saddened that you consider christians your enemy. I feel that this country's support of Israel has been mainly because christians believe it is the right thing to do. Most moral people reject a bill that would give special rights to those who identify themselves by their sexual behaviors, not only because of ancient traditions in most cultures of the world but because of the dangers of pandemics that are already costing us millions in lives and dollars! I admit too that my opinions are formed as a result of past experiences (my own molestation as a child) and the death of a nephew who had been seduced as a child by an older man. It introduced him to a "death style" of frequenting bars where MSM was the goal. When he told me he was HIV, he said ten of his friends had already died. After years of suffering the side effects of drugs that he hoped would save him, he developed AIDS. Now he is dead at the age of thirty-six. Friends and relatives have also gone down that same path. Most people who do were caught up in it as a child. As people have been seduced into pornography and drugs more and more of our children are being considered fair game and who do they have to protect them? The constitution says we all deserve "equal" protection under the law. If we start giving special rights to certain groups, Jews and christians may find themselves backed against the wall again. Please do not back bill H. R. 1592 and any others like it that will be attempted. Sincerely, BG Lynch
This very important peice of legislation,it will help protect the Jewish People, Thank you, Mitchell