Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee introduces bill criminalizing some forms of ‘hate speech’

Texas Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee introduced a bill to combat “White supremacy” by criminalizing certain forms of hate speech.

After the ill-fated attempt by the Biden administration to monitor Americans’ speech online, Jackson Lee introduced the Leading Against White Supremacy Act of 2023 to assign criminal punishment for certain forms of hate speech.

The bill’s language is broad and could result in people facing criminal charges for sharing hateful content, including on social media.

“Person engages in a white supremacy inspired hate crime when white supremacy ideology has motivated the planning, development, preparation, or perpetration of actions that constituted a crime or were undertaken in furtherance of activity that, if effectuated, would have constituted a crime.”

JacksonLee’s bill

The bill would impose criminal penalties for anyone who “published material advancing white supremacy, white supremacist ideology, antagonism based on ‘replacement theory,’ or hate speech that vilifies or is otherwise directed against any non-White person or group, and such published material,” if it was “read, heard, or viewed by a person who engaged in the planning, development, preparation, or perpetration of a white supremacy inspired hate crime.”