-Caveat Lector-
>From http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/6/10/170606.shtml
}}}>Begin
Reprinted from NewsMax.com
Opposition to 'Hate Crimes' Bill Grows
Wes Vernon, NewsMax.com
Tuesday, June 11, 2002
WASHINGTON – Public outrage over a "hate crimes” bill that would impose a policy
of protecting some citizens more than others may have played a pivotal role in
postponing a procedural vote in the Senate.
The office of the prime sponsor of the bill, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., told
NewsMax.com on Monday that a scheduled vote today on cloture (to limit debate and
filibuster on the bill) had been postponed. Another source and the Associated Press,
however, said the vote would proceed.
Behind the scenes, there was a furious battle raging over whether to allow
amendments. Democrat leaders feared that offering a series of votes to change or
modify the bill would put some of their more vulnerable members on the record and
supply opponents back home with campaign ammunition in an election year.
When cloture is invoked, the end is in sight with a set time usually scheduled for a
final vote. Amendments thus can be avoided. Though Kennedy’s office did not say
so, postponement of a cloture showdown usually means a bill’s advocates don’t have
the votes to cut off debate.
"It's wrong to treat some victims of violent crimes as more special than others," said
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. "All victims of violent crime should be equal in the eyes of the
law. When such a crime occurs, the police should not first have to ask, for example,
what is the victim's race or religion or sexual preference?"
But Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said, "I know it is the strategy of many opponents of
this bill to add unrelated amendments, and we're going to have to vote against those,
no matter how attractive they may be standing alone on their own merits."
Another liberal Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said, "The best way to get
this bill through is to invoke cloture, to move it, to pass it and then move on to the
other important legislation that is before the Senate, and that's the argument I'll be
making to my colleagues."
Many conservative groups have alerted their members and urged them to phone
their senators to protest S. 625, the Kennedy "hate crimes” bill. It "would add crimes
motivated by sexual orientation, sex or disability to the list of offenses already
covered under a 1968 federal law," the Associated Press reported Monday.
Conservatives' talking points include the following:
Constitutionally Dubious
"Hate crimes" legislation violate constitutional protections by promoting unequal
justice under the law.
"Hate crimes" legislation (as opposed to all those "love crimes" being committed)
creates a two-tier system of justice where some preferred classes of victims are
more equal than others under the law.
All Americans – black, white, homosexual, heterosexual or whatever – should have
equal protection from criminals. The concern is that under this bill, a father of four
attacked, beaten and robbed would have less protection than a "preferred" minority
who is supposedly attacked because of his minority status. A crime is a crime,
regardless of motivation.
One of the groups protesting the bill, Traditional Values Coalition, argues that
supporters of the measure have not sufficiently proven that local law enforcement
authorities are not prosecuting crime.
In fact, perpetrators of the horrible crimes used to promote the legislation have been
brought to justice. The most high-profile example was a racial killing in Texas where
the perpetrators were handed the death penalty or a life sentence.
These tough punishments did not prevent advocates of "hate crimes” laws from
running ads in then-Gov. George W. Bush’s presidential campaign implying he was
somehow responsible for the crime merely because he didn’t go along with certain
"hate crimes” legislation. Notably, these left-wing activists, many of whom oppose the
death penalty, failed to suggest what harsher punishment they would have imposed.
So-called "hate crimes" account for a small number of crimes. Of the supposed "hate
crimes" reported, a significant number are not violent but rather insults. There are
other ways to deal with insults than to pass legislative curbs on the First Amendment
or implementing thought control.
S. 625 overrides state law and would not allow for the death penalty to be handed
down for heinous crimes. Again, this deals with such considerations as the race,
ethnicity or sexual orientation of the perpetrator and the victim.
Rape victims are excluded from S. 625’s protection.
The acts of violence covered under S. 625 are already criminal offenses under state
law and are adequately prosecuted and punished.
Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and others have warned that creating a special class of
victims is a slippery slope that can lead to abridgement of constitutional protections
and would violate the basic principle that "all men are created equal.”
Though Kennedy's office won’t acknowledge it, the sponsors of this legislation would
rather hold it back so as to slip it through at a moment when public attention is
focused elsewhere. That is why opponents would do well to notify their senators that
they are watching this one and don’t intend to be distracted.
"The Republican-controlled House is likely to ignore the bill again, as it did in 1999
and 2000," the Associated Press reported. "Senate supporters are likely to try to
attach the bill to an authorization bill, like the one for the Defense Department, in
an
attempt to force it through."
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
DNC
George W. Bush
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