One of this week’s strange news stories is Attorney General Pam Bondi’s apparent assault on “hate speech.” During a podcast on Monday, Bondi said her Department of Justice would “absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.” That led to a storm of outrage from the right, which in turn caused Bondi to “clarify” her statement the following day:
“Freedom of speech is sacred in our country, and we will never impede upon [sic] that right,” Bondi said in her statement.
“My intention was to speak about threats of violence that individuals incite against others,” she added. “Under President Trump, the Department of Justice will be unabashed in our efforts to root out credible, violent threats. We will investigate organizations that pursue illegal activities, engage in political violence, violate our civil rights, and commit tax or nonprofit fraud.”
Well and good, but it isn’t what she said on Monday. A knowledgeable conservative should choke on the words “hate speech.” The Left has been trying for years to create a “hate speech” exception to the First Amendment. Polls suggest that many people, especially the young, believe there either is or should be a “hate speech” exception.
Happily, the Supreme Court has been firm on this point. In 2017, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected, in the context of a trademark case, the existence of such a limitation on the First Amendment. For a Republican Attorney General to fall in with the Left on this important point is embarrassing.
There is a silver lining, though. Justice Sonya Sotomayor promptly attacked Bondi, although she didn’t mention her name:
“Every time I listen to a lawyer-trained representative saying we should criminalize free speech in some way, I think to myself, that law school failed,” Sotomayor said on a panel at New York Law School Tuesday morning.
I suppose that means the First Amendment is secure, on this front at least, for the foreseeable future.
I am not sure what to make of Bondi’s lapse. This is the second time she has embarrassed herself; the first was when she over-promised with regard to files on Jeffrey Epstein. I think in some respects her instincts are good, and she is a big improvement on AGs like Merrick Garland, Loretta Lynch and Eric Holder. But in my personal tally, a third strike will mean that she is out.
