S. HRG. 111–464 

THE MATTHEW SHEPARD HATE CRIMES 

PREVENTION ACT OF 2009 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS 

FRIST SESSION 

JUNE 25, 2009 

Serial No. J–111–33 

Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary 

( 

THE MATTHEW SHEPARD HATE CRIMES PREVENTION ACT OF 2009 

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56–684 2010

S. HRG. 111–464 

THE MATTHEW SHEPARD HATE CRIMES 

PREVENTION ACT OF 2009 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS 

FRIST SESSION 

JUNE 25, 2009 

Serial No. J–111–33 

Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary 

( 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont, Chairman 

HERB KOHL, Wisconsin 

DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California 

RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin 

CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York 

RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois 

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland 

SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island 

RON WYDEN, Oregon 

AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota 

EDWARD E. KAUFMAN, Delaware 

ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah 

CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa 

JON KYL, Arizona 

LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina 

JOHN CORNYN, Texas 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

BRUCE A. COHEN, Chief Counsel and Staff Director 

MATT MINER, Republican Chief Counsel 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS 

Page 

Cardin, Hon. Benjamin L., a U.S. Senator from the State of Maryland, prepared statement ................................................................................................... 124 

Hatch, Hon. Orrin G., a U.S. Senator from the State of Utah, prepared 

statement .............................................................................................................. 149 

Kennedy, Hon. Edward M., a U.S. Senator from the State of Massachusetts, 

prepared statement .............................................................................................. 226 

Kyl, Hon. Jon, a U.S. Senator from the State of Arizona, prepared statement . 232 

Leahy, Hon. Patrick J., a U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont .................... 1 

prepared statement .......................................................................................... 284 

Schumer, Hon. Charles E., a U.S. Senator from the State of New York, 

New York, prepared statement ........................................................................... 371 

Sessions, Hon. Jeff, a U.S. Senator from the State of Alabama .......................... 3 

WITNESSES 

Achtemeier, Mark, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, University 

of Dubuque Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, ......................................... 23 

Cohen, Janet Langahart, Chevy Chase, Maryland ............................................... 21 

Heriot, Gail, Commissioner, Commission on Civil Rights, Professor of Law, 

University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California .......................... 24 

Holder, Eric H., Jr., Attorney General, Department of Justice, Washington, 

DC .......................................................................................................................... 4 

Lieberman, Michael, Washington Counsel, Anti-Defamation League, CoChair, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Hate Crime Task Force, 

Washington, D.C. ................................................................................................. 29 

Walsh, Brian W., Senior Legal Research Fellow, Center for Legal and Judicial 

Studies, The Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C. ...................................... 26 

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 

Responses of Gail Heriot to questions submitted by Senator Sessions ............... 40 

Responses of Michael Lieberman to questions submitted by Senator Leahy ..... 44 

Responses of Eric H. Holder to questions submitted by Senators Coburn 

and Sessions ......................................................................................................... 60 

SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD 

AAUW, Lisa M. Maatz, Director, Public Policy and Government Relations, 

Washington, DC, statement ................................................................................ 79 

Achtemeier, Mark, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, University 

of Dubuque Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, statement ....................... 80 

African American Minister in Action and Diverse Array of Religious Communities (AAMIA), Washington, DC: .......................................................................

joint statement .................................................................................................. 83 

Rev. Timothy McDonald, statement ................................................................ 86 

Hate Crimes Fact sheet ................................................................................... 87 

Hate Crimes Myths of the Right ..................................................................... 88 

Rev. Kenneth Lee Samuel, statement ............................................................ 89 

Rev. Robert P. Shine, statement ..................................................................... 91 

Rev. Byron Williams, statement ...................................................................... 92 

Rev. Rolen Lewis Womack, Jr., statement ..................................................... 94 

Alliance Defense Fund, Gary S. McCaleb, Sr., Counsel and Erik Stanley, 

Sr., Legal Counsel, Scottsdale, Arizona, memorandum .................................... 95 

Page

IV 

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Mary Rose Oakar, President, 

and Kareem Shora, National Executive Director, Washington, DC, statement ...................................................................................................................... 102 

American Psychological Association, Gwendolyn Puryear Keita, Ph.D., Executive Director, Washington, DC, letter and attachment ..................................... 111 

Anti-Defamation League, Michael Liberman, Washington, Counsel, and Jess 

N. Hordes, Washington, Director, Washington, DC, letter ............................... 116 

Asian American Justice Center, Karen K. Narasaki, President and Executive 

Director, Washington, DC, letter ........................................................................ 117 

Attorneys General, a Communication from the Chief Legal Officers, Miscellaneous State, letter ................................................................................................ 118 

Bennett, Sean, Private Citizen, letter .................................................................... 122 

Carey, Rea, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action 

Fund, Washington, DC, statement ..................................................................... 125 

CenterLink, Terry Stone, Executive Director, Washington, DC, statement ....... 127 

CNN.com, article ...................................................................................................... 128 

Cohen, Janet Langahart, Chevy Chase, Maryland, statements .......................... 131 

Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, AG Bell, American Association 

on Health and Disability, AAIDD, AAPD, American Council of the Blind, 

American Counseling Association, American Diabetes Association, American Dance Therapy Association, AMRPA, American Music Therapy Association, ANCOR, AOTA, American Psyshological Association, American Rehabilitation Association, Amputee Coalition of America, ATAP, AUCD, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Autism Society of America, Bazelon Center 

for Mental Health Law, Brain Injury Association of America, Council for 

Learning Disabilities, COPAA, Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation, Disability Policy Collaboration, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Disabled Action Committee, Easter Seals, Epilepsy Foundation, Helen Keller National Center, Higher Education Consortium for Special Education, Learning Disabilities Association of America, 

Mental Health America, NAMI, NACDD, National Association of County 

Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors, national Association of the Deaf, National Association of School Psychologists, National 

Association of Social Workers, National Association of State Head Injury 

Administrators, National Center for Learning Disabilities, National Coalition on Deaf-Blindness, National Council on Independent Living, NDRN, 

National Down Syndrome Congress, NDSS, National Fragile X Foundation, 

National rehabilitation Association, National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives, NRC, NSSTA, NISH, PVA, Research Institute for Independent Living, School Social Work Association of America, 

Spina Bifida Association, TASH, The Arc of the United States, United 

Cerebral Palsy United Spinal Association, World Institute on Disability, 

Washington, DC, statement ................................................................................ 138 

Eagle Forum, Phyllis Schlafly, Alton, Illinois, statement .................................... 143 

Family Equality Council, Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director, Boston, Massachusetts, statement .......................................................................................... 145 

GLSEN, Eliza Byard, Ph.D., Executive Director, Washington, DC, statement . 146 

Harkins, Rev. Derrick, Senior Pastor, Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, 

Washington, DC, statement ................................................................................ 147 

Heriot, Gail, Commissioner, Commission on Civil Rights, Professor of Law, 

University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California, statement ....... 152 

Holder, Eric H., Jr., Attorney General, Department of Justice, Washington, 

DC, statement and attachments ......................................................................... 167 

Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solmonese, Executive Director, Washington, 

DC, statement ...................................................................................................... 200 

Human Rights First, Elisa Massimino, CEO and Executive Director, Washington, DC, statement .......................................................................................... 201 

Interfaith Alliance, Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, President, Pastor of Preaching 

and Worship, North Minster Baptist Church, Monroe, Louisiana, statement 

and attachment .................................................................................................... 208 

International Association of Chiefs of Police, Russell B. Laine, President, 

Alexandria, Virginia, statement .......................................................................... 214 

Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Rabbi Steve Gutow, President, Washington, 

DC, statement ...................................................................................................... 223 

Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, Ira Novoselsky, National Commander, Washington, DC, statement ............................................... 225 

Kennedy, Elke, Mother of Sean Kennedy, statement ........................................... 228 

Page

V 

Knight, Robert, Senior Writer/Correspondent, Coral Ridge Ministries, and 

Senior Fellow, The American Civil Rights Union, New York, New York, 

statement .............................................................................................................. 233 

LCCR Education Fund, Washington, DC, statement ........................................... 238 

Levin, Professor Brian, Director, Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism, 

California State University, San Bernardino, California, statement .............. 286 

Lieberman, Michael, Washington Counsel, Anti-Defamation League, CoChair, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Hate Crime Task Force, 

Washington, DC, statement ................................................................................ 294 

Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, endorsing organizations ................................................................................................................ 305 

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Hilary O. 

Shelton, Senior Vice President for Advocacy/Director, Washington Bureau, 

Washington, DC, statement ................................................................................ 312 

National Center for Transgener Equality, Washington, DC, statement ............. 314 

National Coalition for the Homeless, Washington, DC, statement ..................... 318 

National District Attorneys Association, Scott Burns, Executive Director, Alexandria, Virginia, statement and letter ........................................................... 324 

National Religious Broadcaster, Craig L. Parshall, Esq., Government Relations, Washington, DC, statement and attachment .......................................... 330 

9to5, National Association of Working Women, Linda A. Meric, Executive 

Director, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, statement ...................................................... 349 

Organization of Chinese Americans, George C. Wu, Executive Director, Washington, DC, statement .......................................................................................... 350 

People for the American Way, Michael B. Keegan, President, Marge Baker, 

Executive Vice President for Policy and Program Planning, Washington, 

DC, statement ...................................................................................................... 351 

Perkins, Tony, President, Family Research Council, Washington, DC, statement ...................................................................................................................... 353 

Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Rabbi David Saperstein, Director 

and Counsel, Washington, DC, statement ......................................................... 359 

Resurgence on the Right, Mark Potok, Editor, Montgomery, Alabama, statement ...................................................................................................................... 360 

Saperstein, Rabbi David, Director and Counsel, religious Action Center of 

Reform Judaism, Washington, DC, statement .................................................. 362 

Schneck, Stephen F., Ph.D., Director, Life Cycle Institute, Catholic University 

of America, Washington, DC, statement ............................................................ 370 

Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, Montgomery, Alabama, 

report and attachment ......................................................................................... 373 

Third Way, Faith in Public Life, Washington, DC, statement ............................ 403 

Traditional Values Coalition, Washington, DC, statement .................................. 405 

United Church of Christ, Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo, Executive Minister, Washington, DC, statement .......................................................................................... 420 

United States Commission on Civil Rights, Washington, DC: 

Michael Yaki, Commissioner, statement and attachments ........................... 422 

Gerald A. Reynolds, Chairman, Gail L. Heriot, Commissioner, Todd 

Gaziano, Commissioner and Peter N. Kirsanow, Commissioner, statement ............................................................................................................... 428 

United States Conference of Mayors, Manuel A. (Manny) Diaz, Mayor of 

Miami, President, statement ............................................................................... 431 

Walsh, Brian W., Senior Legal Research Fellow, Center for Legal and Judicial 

Studies, The Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC, statement ..................... 432 

Women’s Advocacy Organizations, Washington, DC, statement ......................... 445 

Wright, Wendy, President, Concerned Women for America on Hate Crimes, 

Washington, DC, statement ................................................................................ 449 

(1) 

THE MATTHEW SHEPARD HATE CRIMES 

PREVENTION ACT OF 2009 

THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2009 

U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, DC 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m., Room 

SD–226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Patrick J. Leahy, 

Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Feinstein, Schumer, Durbin, Cardin, Klobuchar, Kaufman, Sessions, Hatch, and Coburn. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. PATRICK J. LEAHY, A U.S. 

SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF VERMONT 

Chairman LEAHY. Good morning. Today the Senate Judiciary 

Committee is going to address the serious and growing problems of 

hate crimes. I think the recent events we’ve seen in this country 

show that these vicious crimes are a continuing problem. The Senate has before it bipartisan legislation that would help law enforcement respond to this problem. The legislation has been stalled far 

too long and it’s time to act. 

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act has been 

pending in the Senate for more than a decade. We’ve held previous 

hearings on this bill, the House has held many hearings on it. Both 

the House and the Senate have voted for this bill, over and over 

again. 

But when Senator Sessions requested a hearing on this legislation at last week’s oversight hearing, I wanted to accommodate his 

request. The Attorney General, who just had been here and normally would not have been back for a number of months, agreed 

to return to the Committee. Attorney General Holder, I thank you 

for doing that. That, I appreciate very much. 

Now, we know, 2 weeks ago, just blocks away from this hearing 

room, a man entered the National Holocaust Memorial Museum 

and he shot and killed Stephen Johns, a security guard. It was a 

cowardly action by a white supremacist, that resulted in the death 

of a 39-year-old husband and father of an 11-year-old son. This 

tragic murder is just the latest in an alarming string of hate 

crimes. 

Now, no doubt the courageous actions of Officer Johns and his 

fellow guards saved dozens of lives. And I regret that as a private 

security guard protecting a Federal facility, he was without a bullet-proof vest, because from what I’ve read about this case it would 

have saved his life. 

2 

The facts set out in several recent reports show hate crimes and 

hate groups are growing nationwide. The Leadership Conference 

for Civil Rights just released a report on hate crimes that found 

that the number of hate crimes reported has consistently ranged 

around 7,500 or more annually. That’s one for every hour of the 

day, 24 hours a day. 

A recent report from the Southern Poverty Law Center found 

that hate groups have increased by 50 percent since 2000, from 602 

hate groups in 2000 to 926 in 2008. Last Saturday, 2,000 mourners 

filled the Ebenezer AME Church and they heard Reverend John 

McCoy say, ‘‘The hope of the Holocaust Museum was that the world 

would never again allow such crimes against humanity, yet Officer 

Johns is another victim.’’ 

As mourners of many faiths and backgrounds listened, Reverend 

Grainger Browning said, ‘‘The same hate that created slavery was 

the same hate that caused the Holocaust.’’ I looked at the stray 

bullet holes that covered the door of the National Holocaust Museum, a jarring reminder. From the horrific slayings of Matthew 

Shepard and James Byrd during the 1990’s, to the recent tragic 

murder of Luis Ramirez last year, its been clear that we have to 

do more to protect Americans from these crimes and I commend 

Senator Kennedy for his leadership in this effort over the years. 

I’m proud to be a co-sponsor of the Matthew Shepard Hate 

Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. It’s bipartisan. It allows for Federal 

prosecutors to move in, and it focuses the attention and resources 

of the Federal Government. We have worked closely with the Justice Department to ensure that we’re advancing a bill that’s fair 

and constitutional and effective in cracking down on brutal acts of 

hate-based violence. 

The bill would strengthen Federal jurisdiction over hate crimes 

and support, but I’d add—this is very important to so many of us— 

not to substitute for State and local law enforcement, but strengthen State and local law enforcement. Receive strong support from 

State and local law enforcement organizations across the country. 

The legislation would combat acts of violence motivated by hatred 

and bigotry, but does not target pure speech, however offensive or 

disagreeable. It certainly does not target religious speech. We were 

very careful in crafting it. We wanted to respect constitutional limits, and also, in a country like ours, the differences of opinion. So 

I’m glad the Attorney General is here, and I thank him for rearranging his schedule to be here. 

But I also see in the audience, and I welcome, Janet Langhart 

Cohen, a dear friend of both my wife and me. She’s the wife of a 

former Secretary of Defense, a former Senator, a former member 

of this Committee, and I served with them in those capacities, William Cohen. 

I mention this because her husband was at the Holocaust Museum at the time of the shooting. He knew Stephen Johns, the security guard who was killed. So, I look forward to hearing from 

her, Michael Lieberman of the Anti-Defamation League, and Dr. 

Mark Achtemeier, and other witnesses today. 

I’m going to put my whole statement in the record. I know that 

we have health care and everything else going on, so it’s a busy 

time. 

3 

[The prepared statement of Chairman Leahy appears as a submission for the record.] 

Chairman LEAHY. Senator Sessions, we tried to accommodate 

you by having this hearing, and here we are. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JEFF SESSIONS, A U.S. SENATOR FROM 

THE STATE OF ALABAMA 

Senator SESSIONS. Thank you, Chairman Leahy. I look forward 

to the hearing. I am sorry that a number of our members will not 

be able to be here today because of the health care matter that’s 

moving on and is of huge importance. I know Senator Hatch is 

going to have to leave, and Senator Kyl, likewise, is a leader in 

that, as is Senator Grassley, of course, and Cornyn. And Dr. 

Coburn is not a member of the committee, but is deeply involved 

in it. So I’m sorry that we probably won’t have more people here 

today. 

Let me just say that I believe deeply in the Federal legal system, 

that we need to get it right. I’ve had 15 years of practice in that 

system. The kind of crime we had at the Holocaust Museum is just 

heartbreaking and unacceptable and needs to be prosecuted to the 

absolute fullest extent of the law, as any of these kind of vicious 

crimes need to be prosecuted, and I believe they will. 

I would note that a security guard at some other location who’s 

murdered in the course of trying to do that duty and help others 

probably would not be caught and covered by this, probably would 

not get the benefit of additional Federal prosecution. Perhaps, I 

think, this legislation would appear to cover the Holocaust Museum 

case, and I would certainly admit that and concede that. 

Let me just say the way I analyze it. The original Civil Rights 

Act that protected people in the carrying out of their civil rights 

duties and protected them from attack because of their race was 

based on a demonstrated need. There was, indeed, I am sad to say, 

a situation in significant parts of our country where African-Americans were not protected. 

It was easy to demonstrate that there was a double standard of 

justice and they were not being protected, and often murders or attacks occurred and insufficient prosecutions occurred. Sometimes 

no prosecution. So there was a justification for that, and that law 

was passed. I have charged it as a U.S. Attorney, and I believe it 

was helpful in certain cases. 

I would just say, therefore, that when we now carve out a different class of people that may also deserve that kind of protection, 

we need, and owe it to the American people and to our legal system, to explain why these cases are such, that they’re not being 

adequately prosecuted by State courts, why they’re not being adequately prosecuted throughout the system, and why we need to 

have the Federal Government take over prosecutions that they 

have not taken over before. 

A lot of people don’t know that a murder that occurs when someone picks up a rock and murders somebody with it within some 

State border, that is not a Federal crime and probably cannot be 

made a Federal crime. Maybe it can be; probably not, because 

there’s not a nexus to interstate commerce or those kind of things. 

Murders occur all over America every day. Robberies, assaults, 

4 

rapes, burglaries occur every day, and those are handled by our 

State and local jurisdictions. Probably 90-plus percent of criminal 

prosecutions in America are done by our States and local governments. They do a pretty good job. 

In fact, all of us who have been involved in prosecutions know 

that police and prosecutors and State governments are far more effective today than in the past. They are better trained, many of 

them have college degrees, the police officers do, and they have access to more technology and equipment. There’s more sharing of expertise among agencies, and they’re doing a much better job. I 

think the FBI statistics would show that hate crimes have declined 

over the last 10 years. 

So one of the things that’s important is to know, do we have a 

problem of significant numbers of cases—even less than significant, 

a noticeable number of cases—not being prosecuted in State and 

local governments relating to these kinds of issues that we’re calling hate crimes? Senator Hatch has for years proposed a study to 

examine just that, and for years we never got it done. I think that 

would be a preliminary step in this process. 

Also, people are concerned about how we are picking and choosing the people who receive the extra protection. Are we doing that 

wisely on a principled basis, one that can be defended? 

So, Mr. Attorney General, we’re glad you’re here. It is an important hearing. We want to do this right. I would say, again, I believe 

people who commit these horrible crimes need to have the stiffest 

punishment imposed, and certainly support that and look forward 

to discussing these issues this morning. 

Chairman LEAHY. Thank you. 

Mr. Attorney General, the floor is yours. 

STATEMENT OF HON. ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., ATTORNEY 

GENERAL, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, WASHINGTON, DC 

Attorney General HOLDER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman 

Leahy, Ranking Member Sessions, and members of the committee, 

thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss 

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. This 

administration strongly supports this vital legislation, which will 

help protect all Americans from the scourge of the most heinous, 

bias-motivated violence. 

Nearly 11 years ago—11 years ago—on July 8, 1998, I testified 

before this Committee as Deputy Attorney General to urge passage 

of an almost identical bill—11 years ago. While it is unfortunate 

that 11 years have come and gone without this bill becoming law, 

I am confident that we can now make the important protections 

that it offers a reality. Indeed, one of my highest personal priorities 

upon returning to the Justice Department is to do everything that 

I can to help ensure that this critical legislation finally becomes 

law. 

As the recent tragedy at the Holocaust Museum demonstrates, 

our Nation continues to suffer from horrific acts of violence inflicted by individuals consumed with bigotry and prejudice. Today, 

just as when I first testified on this issue in 1998, bias-motivated 

acts of violence divide our communities, intimidate our most vulnerable citizens, and damage our collective spirit. 

5 

The FBI reported 7,624 hate crime incidents in 2007, which is 

the most current year for which the FBI has complete hate crime 

data. Recent numbers also suggest that hate crimes against certain 

groups are on the rise, such as individuals of Hispanic national origin. Between 1998 and 2007, more than 77,000 hate crime incidents were reported by the FBI. That is nearly one hate crime for 

every hour of every day over the span of a decade! 

President Obama strongly supports this bill. As you know, he cosponsored similar legislation when he was in the Senate. On April 

28th of this year, the President said, as he urged, ‘‘Members of 

both sides of the aisle act on this important civil rights issue by 

passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent 

acts of intolerance.’’ 

The President and I seek swift passage of this legislation because 

hate crimes victimize not only individuals, but entire communities. 

Perpetrators of hate crimes seek to deny the humanity that we all 

share, regardless of the color of our skin, the god to whom we pray, 

or the person who we choose to love. 

The time is now to provide our Federal, State, local, and tribal 

law enforcement officers with the tools that they need to effectively 

prosecute and deter these heinous crimes. The time is now to provide justice to victims of bias-motivated violence and to redouble 

our efforts to protect our communities from violence based on bigotry and prejudice. 

For these reasons, I strongly urge passage of The Matthew 

Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. I’m pleased to submit the full text of my prepared remarks for the record and I look 

forward to answering any of your questions. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Attorney General Holder appears as 

a submission for the record.] 

Chairman LEAHY. Thank you very much, Attorney General. We 

did pass the Federal hate crime legislation in 1968 in the wake of 

the assassination of civil rights icon Martin Luther King. That was 

6 years before I came to the Senate. But when we see the shooting 

at the Holocaust Museum, the beating death of a Latino man in 

Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the gang rape of a woman in San Francisco because of her sexual orientation last December, these are 

very, very serious things. I appreciate what you said about your 

testimony as Deputy Attorney General. I remember that very, very 

well. 

Now, I remember you were asked at the time, but how do you 

respond? These are really basically local crimes. I mean, every 

State has laws against murder, every State has laws against assault. Why can’t we just say, OK, let the States worry about it? 

Attorney General HOLDER. Well, in some ways I don’t disagree 

with that statement, in the sense that what we’re looking for here 

is Federal jurisdiction that would come into play if there was a 

demonstrated need, if the States did not have the capacity, did not 

have the willingness, the desire to prosecute these kinds of cases. 

In terms of the legislative expansion that we’re looking for here, 

we’re looking to have the Federal Government have tools to backstop the efforts that would be done by our State and local partners. 

There’s no question that with regard to the vast majority of these 

crimes they would be handled by the State, but for those cases that 

6 

pose particular problems or expose an inability or unwillingness for 

the States to prosecute them, we think that there is the demonstrated need for the Federal Government to become involved. 

Chairman LEAHY. Is there any violation of the double jeopardy 

clause of the Constitution in this legislation? 

Attorney General HOLDER. No. We have looked at this. We’ve 

had the very bright people in the Justice Department’s Office of 

Legal Counsel and other places, and we do not think that there is 

any problem in that regard. 

Chairman LEAHY. I look at a couple of different issues: one is as 

a former State prosecutor, and also as the son of a printing family, 

owned a printing business. Could this be in any way used to infringe on people’s First Amendment rights, either their First 

Amendment rights of speech or their First Amendment rights of religion? 

Attorney General HOLDER. No. This is a bill that is designed to 

prosecute and hold people accountable for conduct, not for speech. 

This does not in any way infringe upon a person’s right to say 

things that I would vehemently disagree with, even about the protected categories of people that we want to expand the bill to cover. 

This is all about preventing violence and not about inhibiting 

speech. 

Chairman LEAHY. This bill adds crimes against people because of 

their gender, their disability, or sexual orientation, or gender identity. Is that an important issue today? 

Attorney General HOLDER. I think it absolutely is. If one looks 

at the hate crimes statistics over the last decade, you will see that 

the third largest component of hate crimes involves sexual orientation. About 12,000 of those crimes over the last decade, 16 percent 

of all of the hate crimes that have been reported, deal with sexual 

orientation motivated. Then if you look at the other categories, gender, disability, gender identity, we believe that Federal law should 

cover those categories of hate-related crime. 

Chairman LEAHY. Again, going back to the State law enforcement, because that will be an issue, in the hate crimes legislation 

we have now there is a certification procedure so you’re not just 

coming in and telling a State to get out of the way. We have put 

similar, some would say more exacting, certification in this bill. 

Has that certification procedure worked well in the past on hate 

crimes? 

Attorney General HOLDER. Yes, I think it has. I think that the 

legislation, wisely, has a certification provision in it. It assures that 

before the Federal Government would become involved in any hate 

crime prosecution, there would have to be sign-off at the highest 

levels of the Justice Department, either by the Attorney General or 

by the Attorney General’s designee, which I think is appropriate. 

Chairman LEAHY. I know in the House, our bill allows for prosecutions for you or your designee—and you said it would be the 

Deputy—in terms of, prosecution by the United States is in the 

public interest is necessary to secure substantial justice. The House 

bill has as a criteria where a State doesn’t object or doesn’t intend 

to exercise jurisdiction. Which version is better? 

Attorney General HOLDER. We prefer the Senate provision. One 

of the things that we are concerned about is the possibility—at 

7 

least the possibility—that a State and local jurisdiction would be 

unwilling to pursue one of these matters and to put the Federal 

Government’s ability to become involved in this in the hands of a 

jurisdiction that perhaps would not want to become involved or 

would not want the Federal Government to become involved, we 

think is inappropriate. We think there’s a balance that is struck 

here by ensuring that the highest levels of the Justice Department 

make the determination that the Federal Government should be involved. 

Chairman LEAHY. Thank you. 

Senator Sessions. 

Senator SESSIONS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know Senator 

Hatch has to leave, and I would yield to him at this time. 

Senator HATCH. Well, thank you for your courtesy, Senator Sessions. I appreciate it. 

Mr. Attorney General, in the many years that I’ve been involved 

in this debate I’ve asked proponents of Federal hate crimes legislation for evidence that crimes motivated by prejudice and bias are 

not being punished at the State level, and you’ve been very hedging 

here too, because you know most all of them are. Certainly there 

are individual stories wherein a perpetrator received a sentence 

that may have been deemed too lenient, and there are, I’m sure, 

many accounts of crimes being punished as something other than 

a ‘‘hate crime’’. 

Now, you cited a few of these cases in your written testimony, 

but I’ve seen little evidence that there is a trend among State law 

enforcement officials to ignore violent crimes motivated by prejudice, or that State court judges are more likely to give too lenient 

sentences in those cases than they are in others involving crimes. 

Now, do you have any evidence that this is the case, that there 

is a trend that, specifically with regard to bias-motivated crimes, 

justice is not being served in this country? 

Attorney General HOLDER. I’m not sure that I would say that I 

see a trend. I think that State and local prosecutors are partners 

and do a good job. But I also know, as I noted in my prepared remarks, that there are instances where there is the need for the 

Federal Government to come in where a State or local locality, for 

whatever reason, has decided not to pursue a case where I think 

it is clearly appropriate or does not have the ability to do that. One 

of the things that I think we should focus on here is that this 

would allow—— 

Senator HATCH. I don’t mean to interrupt you, but I have to on 

that. Do you know of any instances where that’s the case? 

Attorney General HOLDER. Well, I have some in my prepared remarks. 

Senator HATCH. OK. 

Attorney General HOLDER. I think about the case, I think it was 

in California, involving threats that were made before an assault 

actually occurred and that matter was not pursued. I believe it involved people of South Asian origin. There are other provisions or 

other incidents, as I said, that I referenced in my—— 

Senator HATCH. Will you submit those to us so we can—I mean, 

we need to look at that. 

Chairman LEAHY. They have been made part of the record. 

8 

Senator HATCH. Are they? Okay. Well, I’d like to see as many 

cases as you can come up with that would help us to understand 

that this is a major problem, because I haven’t seen it as one. 

Attorney General HOLDER. Well, one of the things I would say, 

is the bill also allows us, because it does away with those six protected activities, it gives the Federal Government a greater ability 

to help our State and local partners where perhaps they want to 

prosecute a case like this, but don’t have the technical expertise, 

the technological capability of building such a case. This would 

allow the Federal Government to partner with our State and local 

counterparts. 

Senator HATCH. All right. Well, I’m curious about your interpretation of some of the language in this bill. As you know, it would 

create two new Federal offenses. To paraphrase the bill, both of 

these provisions would punish those who cause bodily harm to a 

person ‘‘because of’’ the status, race, religion, sexual orientation, et 

cetera of ‘‘any person’’. 

Now, this, I believe, poses two problems. First, instead of requiring that a defendant actually be motivated by animus or prejudice, 

the bill only requires that they be motivated by the status or group 

membership of a person. Now, this would appear to make all rapes, 

because they are motivated by a person’s gender, punishable as 

hate crimes. Now, they’re heinous crimes, no question about that. 

But even worse, robberies resulting in bodily injury could be classified as hate crimes if the victim was chosen because of his or her 

gender or disability. 

Now, you said in your statement that Justice Department policy 

would prevent such prosecutions from taking place. But is there 

anything in this legislation that would prevent such prosecutions 

down the line? Also, the bill doesn’t limit the applicability of crimes 

motivated by the identity or group membership of the victim. A defendant, therefore, could be punished if he was motivated by his 

own membership in a protected group, the victim’s membership, or 

even that of an unrelated third party. 

Now, with this legislative language, couldn’t the bill conceivably 

be construed to cover almost any violent crime? 

Attorney General HOLDER. No, I don’t think so. If one looks at 

the bill, there are specific protected categories that have to be proven to be the motivating factor behind the violent act that the person engaged in. The mere membership of a defendant in a particular group would not be sufficient to trigger the jurisdiction of 

this statute. The focus really is on, what was the motivation of the 

defendant in perpetrating the violent act? I do not think that the 

statute, as drawn and as intended to be enforced, is overly broad, 

as I think you’re suggesting. 

Senator HATCH. My time is up. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman LEAHY. Thank you very much, Senator Hatch. 

Senator Feinstein. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

As the Attorney General was testifying, I was thinking back to 

the 103d Congress, where I introduced The Hate Crimes Enhancement Act, and have tried to get the race, creed, color extended to 

gender, sexual orientation, disability, and we have always failed. 

So, this is really the opportunity to do this in this bill. 

9 

Second, I think this bill presents the caution to States, to counties, to look deeply to see if a crime of violence, in fact, is motivated 

by hate, not dismiss it. I think in our culture, and in my State in 

particular where minorities are becoming majorities of population 

in some areas—an Asian couple on a beach at Tahoe gets beaten 

up. Why? Look deeply into that. This law only applies to a felony 

and a crime of violence. 

The backstop of the law is that the Federal Attorney General, if 

the State refuses to prosecute, can also look into the case and make 

a decision, well, this case, in fact, does deserve prosecution. The 

State has not done it, therefore the Federal Government will. 

These crimes happen. You know, the lesbian couple in a bar. They 

leave. One woman is tracked. She is raped. I’ve heard people say, 

oh, well, she deserved it. This would give the Federal Government 

the opportunity to look into that crime to see if it’s motivated by 

hate. 

There’s one other point I want to make. Hate crimes are really 

the worst. They are scarring forever on the individual, they are 

brutal when they happen—the Matthew Shepard case is obviously 

a case in point—and they should have Federal oversight. 

So if there is a country or if there is a State that refuses to prosecute, that ignores the element of hate in the commission of a felony, the Federal Government can stand up and say, we’re going to 

prosecute. I think the time is long past for this. I really sincerely 

believe it’s going to be helpful in diminishing these crimes. I come 

from a State where the immigration debate, some of it, has been 

a part of hate. People have been beaten up because they happened 

to be Hispanic, they happened to be standing on a street corner 

where somebody doesn’t want them. 

If the State ignores this, the Attorney General can look at it and 

say, we have decided to prosecute this case. So I have no questions, 

other than, I really believe 10 years is too long to wait for it. I really believe in 10 years these hate crimes are increasing, and I really 

believe that backstopping States with the ability of the Attorney 

General to take action is important. So, I’m very happy to be here 

this morning. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman LEAHY. Senator Sessions. 

Senator SESSIONS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Attorney General, I think you are incorrect in referring to 

Senator Hatch’s question about the need to prove animus or ill will. 

The statute, on page 10, says if you receive an injury to any person 

‘‘because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national 

origin of any person’’, and the same language is in the next provision—and I would note that the United States Commission on Civil 

Rights, which six of the eight members have written this body and 

this Senate Committee and the President to oppose this legislation, 

say that the legislation does not ‘‘require that the defendant be inspired by hatred or ill will in order to convict.’’ It is sufficient if 

he acts ‘‘because of’’ someone’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation. 

They note that a robber might well steal only from women. Rapists seldom are indifferent to the gender of their victims. They note 

that the objective meaning of the language and considerable legal 

10 

scholarship would certainly include those kinds of offenses as being 

covered by the Act. 

How do you respond to that? 

Attorney General HOLDER. Well, I disagree with the interpretation. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, where in here does it say it has to have 

ill will and animus in the statute? 

Attorney General HOLDER. Well, it talks about—it says, ‘‘because 

of’’. It seems to me that that is what defines the motivation of the 

person, the person who is the potential defendant, or is the defendant, has to have acted because of the victim’s identity or inclusion 

in one of the protected groups. It does not simply say that—I don’t 

read it nearly as broadly as you indicated. It seems to me that 

there has to be proof that the motivating factor was that the victim’s inclusion in, and then the person’s motivation for, getting at 

a person in one of those groups. 

Senator SESSIONS. I would just say that Senator Hatch doesn’t 

agree, and neither does the Civil Rights Commission of the United 

States, who opposes this legislation, stating, in effect, these are 

double prosecutions, are not technically violations of the double 

jeopardy clause. I think that’s correct. I think you could technically 

argue that we have two separate sovereigns. But it is a violation 

of the double jeopardy spirit of the Constitution. And we can take 

this step, perhaps, lawfully, but should we, is the question. 

Let me ask—— 

Attorney General HOLDER. One thing I would point out, Senator, 

is that the section ‘‘because of the actual or perceived race, religion, 

color, or national origin of any person’’ is the same as the current 

hate crimes law, 18 USC 245. So I don’t see that. Although we expand the number of groups, we’re not in any way changing what 

I think is the actionable language, and that’s why I don’t think 

that the concern about this being overly broad is necessarily justified. 

Senator SESSIONS. I think it is overly broad. I’m pretty confident 

of that. 

Let’s take a situation. I don’t know how else to think this thing 

through. A man speaks forcefully for gay rights at a town hall 

meeting, an argument ensues, and then he’s attacked by an individual. They get in a fight and one assaults him and says hateful 

words to him when he does that. Would that be a hate crime? 

Attorney General HOLDER. It would depend on—you know, the 

facts are the things that will define—— 

Senator SESSIONS. I mean, on the surface of it, that would meet 

the standard. Would it or would it not? 

Attorney General HOLDER. Well, it would depend on what was 

the motivation of the defendant? Did the defendant hit the other 

person because they were just involved in a dispute, an argument, 

and the person just happened to—the defendant just happened to 

go off, or did the defendant strike the person because of his—— 

Senator SESSIONS. His gender? 

Attorney General HOLDER.—sexual orientation. 

Senator SESSIONS. So it wouldn’t be the words, but it would be 

the actual sexual orientation, or gender, or race of the person that 

would make the decision? 

11 

Attorney General HOLDER. Well, you have to look at the totality 

of the circumstances in trying to decide, what was the motivation 

of the person who actually committed the crime? Was it a person 

who was just mad, and as we sometimes get mad, and therefore hit 

the person? Or was the person—— 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, he used racial slurs, say, hypothetically, 

before he attacked. 

Attorney General HOLDER. Well, that would be an indication that 

there is the possibility that this—— 

Senator SESSIONS. All right. What about a minister who goes to 

the town hall meeting and quotes the Koran and Scripture and 

says homosexual activities are immoral, and he’s attacked by a gay 

activist? 

Attorney General HOLDER. Well, the statute would not necessarily cover that. On the other hand, I think that the concern 

that has been expressed has actually been the one that has been 

reversed, where—— 

Senator SESSIONS. So is that a reason for someone to think that 

this is odd? Does that strike you as odd, that one might be a crime 

and another one, not? 

Attorney General HOLDER. No. The question—you’re focusing on 

speech there, and the question really is not—— 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, I’m talking about assaults. 

Attorney General HOLDER. Well, but you’re talking about—if, in 

fact, the person—we’re talking about crimes that have an historic 

basis, groups who have been targeted for violence as a result of the 

color of their skin, their sexual orientation. That is what this statute is designed to cover. The fact that somebody might strike somebody as a result of speech—again, somebody gets into an argument, 

and we don’t have the indication that the attack was motivated by 

a person’s desire to strike at somebody who was in one of these 

protected groups, that would not be covered by the statute. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, I think that’s part of the problem. The 

elderly are not a protected group, security guards are not a protected group, soldiers are apparently not a protected group; some 

are protected groups and get special protection under this law. 

Attorney General HOLDER. But one has to look at the history, the 

unfortunate history, of our Nation. There are groups who have 

been singled out, who have been the objects of violence simply because of their sexual orientation, the color of their skin, their ethnicity. We have to face and confront that reality: that which historically has been a problem for the Nation continues to be a problem for this Nation. In the absence of action by the Federal Government over the last 11 years, I think, turns our back on a reality 

that I think it is now time for us to confront. 

Chairman LEAHY. Thank you. Senator Sessions had mentioned 

some members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights oppose, others support it. I would note that we have 300 civil rights professionals, civic, educational, and religious groups that endorse this; 

26 State Attorneys General, former U.S. Attorney General Dick 

Thornburg, virtually every major national law enforcement organization, including the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, the Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association, 

the Hispanic National Law Enforcement Association, the InterVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:57 Jun 10, 2010 Jkt 056684 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\56684.TXT SJUD1 PsN: CMORC
12 

national Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the National Asian Peace Officers Association, National Black Police Association, the National Center for Women and Policing, the National 

Coalition of Public Safety Officers, and the National District Attorneys Association. I’m particularly pleased to see that, having been 

vice president of that association. The National Latino Police Officers Association, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the Police Executive Research Forum, Police 

Foundation, 44 women’s organizations, 64 disability rights organizations, and 47 religious faith organizations. We have in the audience representatives of the African-American Ministers in Action, 

the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Center for Transgender 

Equality, Third Way, members of the U.S. Commission on Civil 

Rights, and the Human Rights Commission. I’ll put their letters 

and statements in the record. I just wanted to note that there are 

a number who—— 

[The letters and statements appear as a submission for the 

record.] 

Senator SESSIONS. Mr. Chairman, I would offer this one, too, 

from the U.S. Commission on Civil rights. 

Chairman LEAHY. Of course. 

Senator SESSIONS. The first letter of which says, ‘‘We urge you 

to vote against the proposed Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. We believe the Act will do little good and a great deal 

of harm.’’ Six of the eight members signed it, including Gerald Reynolds, the chairman, Abigail Thernstrom, the vice chair. 

[The letters appear as a submission for the record.] 

Chairman LEAHY. Thank you. I will also put in the record another letter from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from those 

members who do support it. 

Senator Durbin. 

Senator DURBIN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Attorney General Holder, it is a legitimate inquiry by this Committee as to whether or not we should expand Federal crimes, 

whether there are adequate criminal statutes at the State and local 

level. I think we should ask that question, and you have addressed 

it from your point of view. When I considered this debate, I looked 

back in history to another debate on anti-lynching legislation. 

Many of the same arguments—in fact, many of the same words— 

were being used in 1922 to argue against a Federal anti-lynching 

law, that of course was focused on the issue of race. This expands 

the concept beyond race to other elements, but it’s a legitimate inquiry. I happen to come down on the side that Federal involvement 

in this is warranted, but I want to address two specific issues, if 

I can, in a very brief period of time. 

The overwhelming correspondence I’m receiving in opposition to 

the hate crimes legislation comes from the religious community, 

primarily from Christian churches who believe that this would be 

an infringement on religious speech. Their argument goes along 

these lines: if a minister stands before his congregation and says 

that he believes that the Bible makes it clear that homosexuality 

is a sinful way of life, and he preaches that to his congregation and 

13 

urges them to not only tell their family, but to tell everyone what 

he believes is the revealed Word of God through the Bible, that homosexuality should be condemned and is in fact unacceptable, and 

then someone in that minister’s congregation acts on that sermon, 

that motivation, either in speech or in conduct, then the minister 

could be held responsible as well under this statute. 

So I’d like to ask you to be as explicit as you could be in that 

particular instance, where religious speech condemns homosexuality, urging all of the congregants to join him in that belief and 

to say, even to those homosexuals that they meet, that they are 

sinning in their lifestyle, could you be as explicit as you could 

about whether this statute would inhibit that kind of religious 

speech or hold that religious minister liable for conduct? 

Attorney General HOLDER. Under the facts as you’ve laid them 

out, Senator Durbin, that minister would not be liable under the 

provisions of this bill. This bill seeks to protect people from conduct 

that is motivated by bias. It has nothing to do with regard to 

speech. The minister who says negative things about homosexuality, about gay people, this is a person I would not agree with 

but is not somebody who would be under the ambit of this statute. 

The person who actually committed the physical act of violence 

would be the person—assuming that all the jurisdictional requirements were met, it is the person who commits the actual act of violence who would be the subject of this legislation, not the person 

who is simply expressing an opinion. 

Senator DURBIN. Yesterday, the Department of Justice announced the arrest of a blogger who had called for judges in Chicago to be killed because of a recent ruling involving guns, and 

went so far as to publish maps as to how you could find their 

homes, and how they go to work, and that sort of thing. 

So let me take it to the next step. What if that religious person 

I’ve just referred to, this minister, says it is not only against the 

Word of God, you have an obligation to go out and punish those 

who are guilty of this conduct? Now, has that crossed a line where 

religious speech has now become an incitement to violence? Can 

that minister be held responsible under this hate crime statute? 

Attorney General HOLDER. No. Again, we’re looking at people 

who actually commit physical acts of violence, however deplorable 

the speech that you have just described—again, speech with which 

I would vehemently disagree. That is not cognizable under the statute. 

Senator DURBIN. Now, let me ask you about bodily injury, because that is an important element in this as well. What about 

those who are harassed? For instance, homosexuals who are harassed by people who believe that their lifestyle is contrary to the 

Word of God, people who would carry signs or call their homes? 

Now, would that conduct, that sort of harassment, be covered by 

this hate crime bill—could those people be prosecuted for harassing 

and creating mental intimidation of those who are guilty of what 

they consider immoral conduct? 

Attorney General HOLDER. Again, we’re looking for acts that result in bodily injury, and in the absence of bodily injury, that kind 

of conduct would not be cognizable under the statute. 

Senator DURBIN. Thank you very much. 

14 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Thank you, Senator. 

Senator Coburn, you’re up next. 

Senator COBURN. Mr. Attorney General, thank you for being 

here. Appreciate it. 

I want to go back and touch on something that Senator Hatch 

asked. Do we actually have good statistics that tell us that we’re 

not fulfilling and carrying out the intent of state laws that would 

require us to do this? 

Attorney General HOLDER. I think that we have certainly good 

statistics that tell us that hate crimes are an ongoing problem for 

this Nation, about 80,000 or so in the past decade. The ability of 

the Federal Government to help State and local jurisdictions who 

want to prosecute these kinds of crimes is certainly impacted by 

the Federal activities requirement that the bill would do away 

with. 

Senator COBURN. Actually, my question is a little different. Do 

we have statistics where the States are failing? You mentioned two 

anecdotal cases in your testimony that I heard over the TV before 

I got here. 

Attorney General HOLDER. Right. 

Senator COBURN. But do we have statistics that say we have 

these 80,000 crimes, and 5,000 of them, the States did a poor job 

on? 

Attorney General HOLDER. No, I think we—— 

Senator COBURN. Do you have any statistics? In other words, I’m 

trying to find—I have a lot of questions about this bill, the least 

of which is how you determine what motivation is. But let me ask 

it a different way. Which States are regularly or systematically 

failing to enforce their laws punishing crimes of violence? 

Attorney General HOLDER. Well, as I said, as I pointed out in my 

written testimony, there are instances that I think we can point to 

where a State or a local jurisdiction has failed to act in a way that 

I think we would all think that a State or locality should. But I 

don’t think, as Senator Hatch asked—I don’t think that I can say 

that there is a trend, that there is a trend among the States or 

local jurisdictions in failing to go after these kinds of crimes. 

What we’re looking for is an ability in those instances—those 

rare instances—where there is an inability or an unwillingness by 

State or local jurisdiction to proceed, that the Federal Government 

would be able to stop, would be able to fill that gap. That’s why 

this legislation, we think, is so necessary. It would not put the Federal Government in the position to replace our State and local partners. 

Senator COBURN. Okay. I’ll try it a different direction. We don’t 

have the statistics? We don’t know what the relative level, lack of 

ability of the States? We’re assuming that they need our help? 

You’ve noted anecdotally some of those instances, but we don’t 

know. I think we have 45 States that have hate crime legislation. 

Are the States that don’t have hate crime legislation worse in 

terms of the prosecution of these same similar events that the 

States that have them? 

Attorney General HOLDER. I don’t know. I’d have to look at the 

statistics, look at the evidence that we have. But what I do know 

is, as the law now exists, there are people who are the objects of 

15 

hate violence who the Federal Government does not have an ability 

to protect if a State decides not to prosecute the case. The way the 

bill is presently—the way the statute is now enforced, there’s also 

an inability of the Federal Government to help a State or local jurisdiction where we might want to because of the requirement for 

Federal activity. 

Senator COBURN. But we don’t know the incidence of that. We 

don’t know the incidence of that. 

Attorney General HOLDER. Again, we can point to specific cases. 

Senator COBURN. Yes. 

Attorney General HOLDER. But I don’t have an ability to give 

you—— 

Senator COBURN. But I can point to specific cases on lots of 

things that States don’t do that we would like for them to do different that we don’t come and make a special law that we can step 

across that boundary between States and the Federal Government 

to enforce them to do that. 

Attorney General HOLDER. The difference, I think, though, is 

that there is the historic nature of the kinds of conduct that we’re 

talking about, people who are singled out because of their race, 

their religion, under the new provision, their sexual orientation, 

where there is a history of these unfortunate kinds of conduct. 

Senator COBURN. I understand that and I agree with that. That’s 

why you have 45 States that have passed those laws. 

Let me go back. I asked you during last week’s hearing whether 

you viewed the June 1st murder of Army Private William Andrew 

Long, that was targeted by a Muslim because he was a U.S. soldier, as a hate crime, and you stated that it is potentially a hate 

crime. You said that DOJ had responsibility to prosecute those who 

killed Private Long. 

Here’s what the gentleman that killed Private Long said. He 

said, ‘‘This was an act of retaliation, an act for the sake of God, 

for the sake of Allah, the Lord of all the world, and also retaliation 

on the U.S. military.’’ He remains unrepentant. He says, ‘‘I do feel 

I’m not guilty. I don’t think it was murder because murder is when 

a person kills another person without justified reason.’’ How can 

this not be considered a hate crime? 

Attorney General HOLDER. Well, there’s a certain element of 

hate, I suppose, in that. But I think what we’re looking for here 

in terms of the expansion of the statute are instances where there 

is an historic basis to see groups of people who are singled out for 

violence perpetrated against them because of who they are. I don’t 

know if we have the same historical record to say that members 

of our military have been targeted in the same way that people 

who are African-American, Hispanic, people who are Jewish, people 

who are gay have been targeted over the many years. 

Senator COBURN. So what we’re willing to do is elevate those 

crimes over the very intended hate crime that this man perpetrated 

upon this soldier, and we’re saying they have an elevated status? 

Attorney General HOLDER. No, it’s not a question of elevating the 

crime, it is dealing with the reality that we confront: 80,000 crimes 

directed against people who this bill would cover. I don’t know if 

we have the same kind of statistical information with regard to 

members of our military. 

16 

Senator COBURN. My time has expired. 

Attorney General HOLDER. We can certainly say that over the 

course of the last decade there have been 80,000 crimes that have 

been directed against people because of their race, religion, national origin, or color. 

Chairman LEAHY. Thank you. 

Senator Klobuchar. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you, Mr. Attorney General. I remember the first time I 

met you was actually at the introduction of this bill, with thenPresident Clinton. I remember it for a few reasons. One, because 

it was my first official event in Washington. I was a young prosecutor and was asked to introduce the President, because of cases 

we had had in our jurisdiction. 

I remember standing out there with him on one side and the Attorney General on the other, huge room of people in the East Room 

for this historic announcement. They started playing ‘‘Hail to the 

Chief’’, I start walking, and I feel this big hand on my shoulder and 

this voice says, ‘‘I know you’re going to do great out there, but 

when they play that song I usually go first.’’ 

[Laughter.] 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. That’s why I remember it. But I also remember it because I had the opportunity to meet the investigators 

in the Matthew Shepard case and to hear their stories about how 

this had changed their lives, investigating this case, and what they 

had thought about gay people before and what they thought about 

them later. 

I thought about the cases that we had had in our own jurisdiction before, before the introduction of the bill and after, from the 

case of a young African-American boy who was shot by a guy who 

said he was going to go out and kill someone on Martin Luther 

King Day, and he almost did; the case of a man that was severely 

beaten and got brain damage for speaking Spanish because the 

foreman of that company didn’t like that he was speaking Spanish; 

the cases we recently had with a Hindu temple that was severely 

vandalized by young kids, and the case of a Korean church that 

had all kinds of hateful graffiti written on it. Those were cases in 

Minnesota, a place where you might not think you’d see these 

kinds of cases, but we did. 

My question—and I am a supporter of this legislation—is just, 

you talked about how this would be a backstop, that most of these 

cases would continue to be handled by State and local jurisdictions. 

What kind of process will the DOJ go through in deciding whether 

or not to take on a case, a hate crime case, as a Federal crime? 

Attorney General HOLDER. Well, I think that we would do it in 

the typical way that we do now. Our Civil Rights Division would 

look at the matter. There would have to be a determination made 

by the Department at the highest levels that the involvement of 

the Federal Government, the Justice Department, would be appropriate. There is a certification requirement that the Attorney General, or the Attorney General’s designee, make the decision that the 

Federal involvement is appropriate. 

So we would be deferring, I think, in a vast majority of cases to 

our State and local partners, but in those instances where we 

17 

thought that Federal involvement was appropriate—and again, this 

would be done at the highest levels of the Department—we would 

like to have the ability to help our State and local partners or we 

would like to have the ability to become involved and bring cases 

on our own. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. I would also note, I was hearing some of my 

colleagues, that in many areas, gun cases, drug cases, State and 

local and Federal authorities work together and decide what’s best 

for the prosecution of a case. So I don’t think this is that different 

in that way. 

I also noted that the Chairman mentioned some of the organizations that are supporting this bill, including the Association of 

Chiefs of Police, the Major Cities Chiefs, the National District Attorneys Association. Does it surprise you that these law enforcement groups are supporting this bill? 

Attorney General HOLDER. No. I think there is pretty widespread 

agreement that there is the need for this legislation, that there has 

been the need for this legislation for an extended period of time, 

that the problem of hate crimes is one that is a recurring one. The 

problem is not going away: the number of 80,000 over the course 

of the last decade, the increase in violence focused on people of Hispanic extraction. There are clear needs for this kind of legislation 

and that’s why I think the support, the widespread support you see 

for this, is not surprising. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. The bill, as currently written, includes a 5- 

year statute of limitations on hate crime prosecutions. What is the 

Department view of that provision, of the 5-year statute of limitations? 

Attorney General HOLDER. We actually think that—I think the 

House provision is actually a little better. These are cases that are 

not easily put together, and the House version that has a 7-year 

statute of limitations, except for those offenses involving death 

where there would be no statute of limitations, is a better way to 

proceed. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. So you’d prefer to have the 7-year over the 

5-year? 

Attorney General HOLDER. Yes, we would. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. All right. Thank you very much, Mr. Attorney General. 

Chairman LEAHY. Thank you. 

Senator Cardin. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Attorney General Holder, thank you very much for your leadership on this issue. I strongly support this legislation. 

When a person has been victimized by a hate crime, it’s not only 

the victim who suffers. The entire community is diminished. Recent 

trends are disturbing, and I think it’s important for the Federal 

Government to speak to this issue as a priority, and the passage 

of this legislation would do exactly that. 

I want to talk a little bit about the relationship between the Federal Government and the State, the issue that Senator Sessions 

has raised, and Senator Coburn, and others, and really talk about 

the philosophy of this bill because I think it complements the 

States. 

18 

First, as Senator Klobuchar has said, it is a backstop, so there’s 

opportunity for the State to act. If the State acts and there’s no 

need for Federal involvement, my expectation is there would be no 

Federal involvement. If the States had the capacity to deal with 

this issue, that’s the preferred route. 

The second part of this legislation is uniformity. There are States 

that do not have hate crime statutes. There are States that do not 

include hate generated by a person’s sexual orientation. There’s a 

need for uniformity, a uniform message in our Nation. 

The third, that I don’t know if we’ve talked enough about at this 

hearing, is the financial capacity issue. There are a lot of local jurisdictions that are really strapped for funds. They don’t have the 

resources to investigate. We all understand the capacity of the Federal Government. It’s not unlimited, but it certainly provides a 

stronger network for investigation and prosecution than a State 

can dedicate to one particular crime or to a situation that needs an 

extensive investigation. 

In this legislation there is direct help to local government. There 

are programs that provide and authorize grants to help State, local, 

and tribal law enforcement officials to manage the high costs of investigating and prosecuting hate crimes, so we recognize that by 

providing direct resources. It authorizes the Office of Justice Programs to award grants to State, local, and tribal authorities for 

programs that combat hate crimes committed by juveniles, including programs to train local law enforcement. 

So, I think we might be losing the focus of this legislation which 

is, yes, to go after those who perpetrate hate crimes, but to work 

with our local governments to backstop if they’re unable, to have 

a uniform statute, and to provide the resources so that we can 

bring a coordinated law enforcement effort against those who perpetrate hate crimes. 

I want to just give you an opportunity to respond to that, whether my reading of this law is correct, that this is not to be in conflict 

with local law enforcement, but to complement local law enforcement. 

Attorney General HOLDER. No, Senator. I think you have it exactly right. We don’t seek to replace our State and local partners. 

We want to complement them, we want to help them. I think that 

what you’ve indicated is a good way of looking at this. There is a 

component of this bill, a part of this bill that gives direct assistance 

to our State and local counterparts to help them be more effective 

in prosecuting, in dealing with these kinds of crimes. 

This also gives the Federal Government the ability in those instances where a State or local jurisdiction doesn’t have the technological wherewithal to prosecute one of these cases, to help us to 

help them in a way that is now difficult because of the requirement 

that, under the present law, there has to be involvement in one of 

these federally designated activities. The new bill would do away 

with that, those six federally designated activities, and would give 

the Federal Government a greater capacity to assist our State and 

local counterparts. 

So I think that’s one way that we should not lose focus. I think 

you’re exactly right, we should not lose sight of the fact that in a 

19 

lot of ways this statute would help State and local jurisdictions 

who want to prosecute these kinds of cases. 

Senator CARDIN. Well, I think that changing or broadening the 

ability of the Federal Government to respond makes this more of 

a seamless approach between the Federal authorities and local authorities, and I appreciate you bringing that to our attention. I just 

would point out, there is no State immune from the vulnerability 

of someone who would commit a hate crime, so we do need a national strategy. This is not a situation where it is concentrated in 

one State or one region of our country; every State in every region 

is vulnerable. I think we do need the presence of the Federal Government, and I thank you for your leadership on this issue. 

Attorney General HOLDER. Thank you. 

Chairman LEAHY. Thank you, Senator Cardin. 

I know the Attorney General has a tight schedule, and he worked 

this in as an accommodation to Senator Sessions’ request. But before I let him go, I understand that Senator Sessions needs a couple of more minutes. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, yes. Just a minute. I would just note 

that perhaps the authorization of funding to create tasks forces and 

studies of these kind of crimes would be an appropriate role for the 

Federal Government. But with regard to the soldier that Senator 

Coburn asked you about, he’s not covered, Mr. Attorney General, 

by the Act. He’s not one of these groups, unless he was a homosexual advocating that and that caused the attack. So he wouldn’t 

be covered. 

There are lots of other groups, people, decent people, that might 

need additional Federal protection if the Federal Government had 

all the money in the world and all the time to investigate this. The 

Matthew Shepard case, I would just note, the individual was prosecuted in Wyoming, two life sentences were obtained, and they 

didn’t have a hate crimes act. It was the kind of crime that should 

have been vigorously prosecuted, and it was. Perhaps we could consider an option to allow more severe sentencing guidelines for people who do just mindless, hateful acts. Maybe you could word that 

in a way that would be sufficient. 

I’ll ask you again: cite me some cases of significance that have 

not been properly prosecuted in the last 5 years. 

Attorney General HOLDER. Well, as I said, I think there are statutes—there are cases that are noted in my written testimony. But 

here’s the way that I would view it. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, no, no, no. I think this is important. You 

cited a California case. I understand that defendant was convicted 

of an assault. But every day crimes are prosecuted in State court 

that may not result in a conviction which the prosecutor or I would 

like, but we don’t pick that up in Federal court with double jeopardy principles and just prosecute them again in Federal court. But 

it doesn’t seem to me—you say you mentioned three cases. I’ll look 

at those and review those. But frankly, that’s not a very big number. 

And isn’t it true that the vast majority of these crimes that you 

cite as hate crimes, which have dropped, according to the statistics, 

from 1998 to 2007, that the vast majority of those are defacement 

or vandalism, or those kind of crimes? 

20 

Attorney General HOLDER. The reality is that we have had, over 

the last decade, 80,000 crimes directed against people because of 

their race, color, religion, or national origin. That, it seems to me, 

is a serious problem. The vast majority of those cases will be handled by the States and by our local partners. What we’re looking 

for is an ability to backstop their efforts and come up with a way 

in which we assist them. 

It seems to me that this is a question, in a lot of ways, of conscience. What is it that we consider important? How are we going 

to use Federal resources, the limited Federal resources that we 

have? It seems to me that to protect groups of people who are the 

objects, the subjects of violence simply because of who they are, 

simply because of the color of their skin, simply because of their 

ethnicity, simply because of their sexual orientation, their gender, 

their disability, those kinds of crimes are worthy of consideration, 

examination by the Federal Government. We should have an ability to become involved in those cases. We don’t seek to replace our 

State and local counterparts. 

Senator SESSIONS. I would just ask you this: why don’t we make 

all crimes Federal crimes then? 

Attorney General HOLDER. There are a substantial number—— 

Senator SESSIONS. I mean, seriously? 

Attorney General HOLDER. No. And seriously, there are substantial numbers of crimes that can be brought, as you know, you’re a 

prosecutor, Federal prosecutor, in the Federal courts, as well as the 

State courts and it doesn’t happen. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, I think you argued your case, and I’ll listen to it. I’m not persuaded. I want to look at the numbers of prosecutions not occurring in an effective way. I think that’s the fundamental test as to whether or not we should go forward with this 

legislation. In the past, I have not concluded it was. I find it odd 

that Senator’s Hatch’s proposal for years to do a study of this has 

not been accepted. 

Chairman LEAHY. Thank you. 

We’re going to—whoops. I guess we did have one other Senator. 

I was about to release you. I would note, we talk about the recruiter who was killed. We have very, very specific Federal laws for 

crimes against members of the military and veterans and they can 

be prosecuted very fully. I think that most people in the military 

would much prefer we use those laws because they’re very, very 

specific, and they can be used in the case of the recruiter who was 

murdered. 

Senator Schumer. 

Senator SESSIONS. But not a local police officer, not a sheriff, not 

a deputy. 

Senator SCHUMER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I’m not going to keep you long, Mr. Attorney General. I appreciate your being here. I appreciate the Chairman holding the hearing. I just wanted to add my voice to the many who have said that 

I hope we can move this legislation. I have a statement, Mr. Chairman, that I hope will be added into the record at this point, to save 

people time. 

Chairman LEAHY. Without objection. 

21 

[The prepared statement of Senator Schumer appears as a submission for the record.] 

Senator SCHUMER. Just one other point. It’s hard for me to understand, in legislation, whatever your views are on the broader 

issues, legislation that says you cannot physically harm somebody 

because of their race, their religion, their ethnicity, or their sexual 

orientation, it’s hard for me to understand how anybody can oppose 

that. To say it’s OK—if we vote down this legislation, in a certain 

sense we are saying it is OK to physically harm people who you 

don’t like because of who they are, and that’s a bad thing and I 

hope we’ll move this legislation. 

I yield back my time. 

Chairman LEAHY. Thank you. 

Attorney General Holder, thank you very much. 

Attorney General HOLDER. Thank you. 

[Pause]. 

Senator SESSIONS. Mr. Chairman, as they are gathering, I think 

I’m going to need to run to the Armed Services Committee which 

is having its final markup of the Armed Services bill. I’ll try to get 

right back as soon as I can. I apologize to the panelists if I miss 

some of your testimony. It’s just one of those things. I have an 

amendment, in particular, that I need to be at. I’ve missed most 

of it already. 

Chairman LEAHY. And I know how busy everybody is. That’s why 

we’ve scheduled this during our normal markup time, and I appreciate the amount of time, Senator Sessions, you have spent here. 

Senator SESSIONS. And Mr. Chairman, I would offer Senator 

Hatch’s statement for the record. 

Chairman LEAHY. Of course. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Hatch appears as a submission for the record.] 

Chairman LEAHY. We will keep the record open until the close 

of business this week for anybody’s statement. 

Our next witness is Janet Langhart Cohen. 

Senator SESSIONS. Maybe she will forgive me if I go to Armed 

Services, since Senator Cohen was—— 

Chairman LEAHY. She’s an accomplished journalist, author, playwright. She’s on of our Nation’s most thoughtful voices on race in 

America. As I indicated earlier, she’s a dear friend of both my wife 

and me. She’s the author of ‘‘From Rage to Reason: My Life in Two 

Americas’’ and the co-author of ‘‘Love in Black and White,’’ which 

she wrote with her husband, former Republican Senator and Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, both books we have and treasure. 

I understand that 2 weeks ago her play, ‘‘Anne and Emmett’’ was 

set to debut at the Holocaust Museum. Her husband was inside 

checking out where that was going to be when the shots rang out 

and killed security guard Stephen Johns. 

Mrs. Cohen, we appreciate so much having you here. Please go 

ahead. 

22 

STATEMENT OF JANET LANGHART COHEN, CHEVY CHASE, MD 

Mrs. COHEN. Thank you very much. I must also say, I am sorry 

my friend Senator Ted Kennedy is not here. He is sorely missed. 

He’s been a great champion on social justice and civil rights. 

I am also sorry that I’ve been asked to speak about hate today, 

hate in our society. It seems I know a lot about hate. I’m almost 

an expert on it. A trail of hate has followed me my entire life. I 

was born into hate. In 1941, my father, when I was an infant, was 

sent to Europe to fight the Nazis, to fight hate, only to return home 

to fight more hate among his fellow citizens: the clan and racism. 

My mother told me, when I was 7 years old we had a cousin in 

our family who had been lynched. She also told me that there were 

people in this country who won’t like me because of my color, but 

I must never measure or judge people because of something they 

can’t help, and I have kept that promise. 

At 14 years old, when I was deciding what high school I was 

going to go to, since the Supreme Court decision of 1954 said I was 

equal and that I could go to any school I wanted, word came up 

from Money, Mississippi that a young black boy, the same age as 

I, had been brutally murdered for whistling at a white woman. 

That scared our community and it told me what my country 

thought of me as a person of color, because the men who brutally 

murdered Emmett Till got away with it. 

If that wasn’t enough, when as an adult, a dear friend and mentor was assassinated. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was my friend 

and mentor, and it was hate that murdered him. If you think these 

stories of hate are somewhere in our dark past or are a relic of our 

history, I only have to take you back 2 weeks ago, when at the Holocaust Museum we had a tragic shooting. A white racist went into 

the Jewish shrine and killed a black man, Officer Stephen Tyrone 

Johns. My husband, as Senator Leahy just said, was only 30 feet 

away from the murder. 

The cruel irony is, my play, Anne and Emmett, a play about 

hate, was to debut in the museum just hours later. Anne and Emmett is a one-act play, an imaginary conversation between Anne 

Frank and Emmett Till, two tragic victims of hate whose societies 

allowed them to be murdered. In the play, Anne and Emmett explore the commonalities of their disparate oppressors, the tactics 

they used to murder them. These two teens lived in societies that 

allowed them to be murdered and there was no justice. 

The cruel irony is that drama within a drama, that this white 

racist would come in, and with a single shot to the heart of Officer 

Johns, bring back memories of Adolph Hitler and Jim Crow, it was 

though they had come back to life. 

I implore this Committee to pass this legislation for those who 

are vulnerable. I am one of them. Those of us who are vulnerable 

because of our race, our color, our national origin, our gender identity, our sexual orientation, our disability, and our physical challenges. We need to pass legislation that will empower our Attorney 

General, his prosecutors, their State and local partners to enforce 

a law that will take care of all of us. 

We need this protection, we deserve this justice. My play is a call 

to action to ask society what I’m asking this morning, for us to not 

be silent bystanders or innocent victims watching on, but to do 

23 

something, to do something to act. I feel passing this legislation 

will protect those of us who need it and give us the justice we deserve. 

Thank you very much. 

Chairman LEAHY. Thank you very, very much. It’s powerful testimony and it’s testimony that should be heard. I appreciate especially the fact that when you say these were not things of the distant past, but something we all look at, things that we think about 

with our children and our grandchildren. 

Mrs. COHEN. Thank you. 

Attorney General HOLDER. Reverend Dr. Mark Achtemeier is an 

associate professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Dubuque in Iowa. He’s co-authored two books on Christian faith and 

church renewal. He is a former pastor of the Windemere Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, North Carolina. Reverend Doctor, 

I’m going to turn the gavel over to Senator Cardin, and I’ll be back 

as soon as I can. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF DR. MARK ACHTEMEIER, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF DUBUQUE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, DUBUQUE, IA 

Dr. ACHTEMEIER. Thank you, Senator Leahy, honorable members 

of the Committee. I come before you as an evangelical Christian 

and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church USA to ask 

you to pass The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. 

Christians affirm, along with many other faith traditions, that 

every single human being is created in the image of God. That 

means that each person is entitled to the fundamental rights and 

dignity that go with being an image of the Almighty, and a member 

of the one human family. 

In this area, Christian teaching resonates with the dream that 

is America. Our Declaration of Independence states that ‘‘all men 

are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain 

unalienable rights.’’ Our forebears in this country understood what 

Christianity also affirms, that people’s ability to live out their calling requires respect for their fundamental rights and freedoms. 

The protections of a lawful society provide us with the secure space 

necessary to develop our full human potential, to grow in love for 

our neighbors, and to offer our gifts for the good of all. 

That space of freedom in which lives can flourish disappears 

when people are subjected to physical attack or live in constant 

fear for their safety. This is one area where the church needs the 

government’s help in order to do its work. We need you to create 

for us, and all citizens, that safe space of freedom in which we can 

help people embrace the love and goodness that is their calling as 

children of God. 

As the name on this bill testifies, that safe space has been tragically lacking for our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered 

brothers and sisters. In 2007 alone, 1,265 hate crime incidents 

based on sexual orientation were recorded by the FBI. Though we 

already have laws to protect people from violent assaults, the truth 

is that in areas where particular minority groups are widely disapproved, justice sometimes bends in response to local prejudices 

or has too few resources to make an effective stand. 

24 

In such cases we need the help of our Federal law enforcement 

system provided by this bill in order to make real that America 

promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all our citizens. This bill not only benefits the LGBT community, it also promotes religious liberty by expanding and updating Federal protection against violent crime committed because of a person’s religion. 

That is all the more reason why so many religious bodies have 

been eager to support the bill. I have attached to my testimony a 

letter of endorsement signed by my own church, and a host of others, representing a broad range of faith traditions. 

Now, some have worried that this Act would function to outlaw 

the sincere religious beliefs of Americans who believe that homosexuality is contrary to God’s will. Let me say that if I thought for 

1 minute this bill would limit anyone’s religious faith expression or 

observance, I wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. But that is not 

what the bill does. Section 10 explicitly reaffirms that our religious 

freedoms are fully protected under the Constitution. 

The Matthew Shepard Act targets not thought, not speech, but 

physical assault, and violent acts on another person are not a legitimate expression of anyone’s religion, Christian or otherwise. 

There is nothing in this Act for law-abiding Christians to fear. In 

fact, we need this bill for the health of our churches, our mosques 

and our synagogues. 

In my own church, good Bible-believing Presbyterians are split 

right down the middle on questions surrounding homosexuality, 

and like many religious bodies we are engaged in vigorous debate, 

working to find our way to God’s truth together. But we cannot 

have the debate we need when some people fear being assaulted in 

a dark alley if they’re honest about what they think and who they 

are in church. We need the protections that the Matthew Shepard 

Act provides. 

So for the sake of my church’s health, for the sake of this country’s promise to all its citizens, I urge you to do the right thing and 

pass this legislation. Thank you very much. 

Senator CARDIN. And thank you very much for your testimony. 

We’ll now hear from Gail Heriot, who is a professor of law at the 

University of San Diego, where she teaches torts and civil rights 

law. She is also one of several commissioners on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Professor Heriot is also former counsel to Senator Hatch of this Committee. 

STATEMENT OF GAIL HERIOT, COMMISSIONER, U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS, PROFESSOR OF LAW, UNIVERSITY 

OF CALIFORNIA AT SAN DIEGO, SAN DIEGO, CA 

Ms. HERIOT. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the 

Senate Committee on the Judiciary. I’m Gail Heriot, a member of 

the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Several weeks ago, the Commission voted to send a letter to members of the Senate leadership 

opposing Senate bill 909. I am here to elaborate on my reasons as 

an individual Commissioner for joining in that letter which was 

signed by six of the eight members of the Commission. 

Americans were horrified by the brutal murders of James Byrd 

and Matthew Shepard a decade ago. More recently, the murders of 

Angie Zapata and Stephen Johns have shocked and saddened us 

25 

all. There ought to be a law, some people have said, preferably a 

Federal one. 

Of course, there is a law. Murder is a serious crime everywhere, 

regardless of its motive, and it has been since the advent of our civilization. Indeed, all but a tiny number of States have additional 

special hate crime statutes. To my knowledge, no one has actual 

evidence that State and local authorities have been neglecting their 

duty to enforce the law. Matthew Shepard’s tormenters are now 

serving life sentences; James Byrd’s are on death row awaiting execution, a Colorado jury recently convicted Zapata’s killer of murder, 

and the same will almost certainly happen to James von Braun, if 

he lives long enough to be prosecuted and is found competent to 

stand trial. 

Unfortunately, tragedies like these bias-inspired murders quickly 

become an opportunity for political grand-standing. The proposed 

Federal hate crimes legislation, however, which is being touted as 

a response to these murders, should not be treated as a mere photo 

opportunity. It’s real legislation with real-world consequences, and 

not all of them are good. 

A close examination of its consequences, especially its consequences for federalism and double jeopardy protections, is therefore in order. All hate crimes, even those that have been adopted 

at the State level, raise significant issues. Why, for example, 

should Matthew Shepard’s killers be treated differently from Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Kaczynski? Hate crimes are surely horrible, 

but there are other horrible crimes as well. 

What happens if hate crimes statutes are not enforced evenhandedly? Some crime statistics show that an African-American is 

more likely to commit a racially inspired murder of a white man 

or a white woman than the other way around. Should all be punished as hate crimes or just those that fit the skinhead stereotype? 

Will hate crime statutes really make women and minorities feel 

that the laws take their safety seriously or might they have just 

the opposite effect? Sooner or later, a high-profile crime will occur 

in which some citizens strongly believe ought to be prosecuted as 

a hate crime. Rightly or wrongly, the prosecution will decline to 

prosecute it in that way, or the jury will fail to convict on that particular charge. As a result, citizens will wind up feeling cheated in 

some way when they might have felt completely vindicated had no 

hate crime statute ever existed. 

Americans may disagree in good faith on whether such laws will 

in the end help or hurt harmony in the community. The proposed 

Federal hate crimes legislation, however, has special problems of 

over-reach, with implications for federalism and double jeopardy 

protections. These problems should cause even those who favor 

State hate crime statutes to question the desirability of a Federal 

statute. 

We at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights believe that this bill 

will do little good and a great deal of harm. Its most important effect will be to allow Federal authorities to re-prosecute a broad category of defendants who have already been acquitted by State juries, as in the Rodney King and Crown Heights cases more than 

a decade ago. 

26 

Due to the exception for prosecutions by dual sovereigns, such 

double prosecutions are technically not violations of the Double 

Jeopardy clause of the U.S. Constitution, but they are very much 

a violation of the spirit that drove the framers of the Bill of Rights, 

who never dreamed that Federal criminal jurisdiction would be expanded to the point where an astonishing proportion of crimes are 

now both State and Federal offenses. 

We on the Commission regard the broad Federalization of crime 

as a menace to civil liberties. There is no better place to draw the 

line on that process than with a bill that purports to protect civil 

rights. While the title of The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act suggests that it will apply only to hate crimes, the actual criminal prohibitions contained in it do not require that the 

defendant be inspired by hatred or ill will in order to convict. It is 

sufficient if he acts ‘‘because of’’ someone’s actual or perceived race, 

color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender 

identity, or disability. 

But consider: rapists are seldom indifferent to the gender of their 

victims. They are virtually always chosen because of their gender, 

among other things. A robber may well steal only from the disabled 

because, in general, the disabled are less able to defend themselves. Literally, they are chosen because of their disability. 

Or suppose a burglar is surprised when the wife and husband return to the home earlier than expected. The burglar shoots the husband and kills him, but finding himself unable to shoot a woman, 

turns and runs. Again, literally, the husband was killed because of 

his gender. 

No one can deny the horror of violent crimes inspired by hatred 

of any kind. This is something upon which all decent people can 

agree. But it is precisely in these situations where all decent people 

agree on the need to do something that mistakes are often made. 

Passage of this vaguely worded prohibition would be a giant step 

toward the Federalization of all crime. Given the many civil liberties issues that it would raise, including the routine potential for 

double jeopardy prosecutions, it is a step that the members of the 

Senate should think twice before they take. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you for your testimony. 

We will now hear from Brian Walsh. Brian Walsh is the senior 

legal research fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Legal 

and Judicial Studies. He has worked with the Department of 

Homeland Security and is a former associate with the law firm of 

Kirkland & Ellis. It is a pleasure to have you here, Mr. Walsh. 

STATEMENT OF BRIAN W. WALSH, SENIOR LEGAL RESEARCH 

FELLOW, CENTER FOR LEGAL AND JUDICIAL STUDIES, THE 

HERITAGE FOUNDATION, WASHINGTON, DC 

Mr. WALSH. Thank you, Senator Cardin. I want to thank Chairman Leahy, Ranking Member Sessions, and members of the committee for this opportunity to address The Matthew Shepard Hate 

Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, and am focusing on the two main 

criminal provisions in Section 7. 

Along with my Heritage Foundation colleague, former U.S. Attorney General Ed Meece, I direct our projects on criminal justice reVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:57 Jun 10, 2010 Jkt 056684 PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\56684.TXT SJUD1 PsN: CMORC
27 

form and over-criminalization, but I speak only on behalf of myself 

here today. 

Over the past few years I have worked with dozens of Members 

of Congress, scores of advocacy organizations, and hundreds of individuals across the ideological and political spectrums to build support for principled, nonpartisan criminal law reform. 

I have written extensively and testified in the House of Representatives about problems that are very similar to the problems 

with this bill: gang-crime legislation that over-federalized crime, ordinary street crime, and would have made much ordinary street 

crime a Federal crime if it had allegedly involved gang members. 

Although I recognize that the Members of Congress who support 

the HCPA are well-intentioned and that much effort has gone into 

trying to make its criminal provisions acceptable to Federal law enforcement officials, among others, nevertheless, the so-called hate 

crimes provisions are precisely the type of criminal laws that we 

have been working to eliminate. They are flatly unconstitutional, 

almost wholly unwarranted, and highly prone to abuse and injustice. Compounding the problem, and as is typical of the dynamics 

that lead to over-criminalization, the legislation is wildly popular 

with the media. 

The hate crimes provisions in Section 7 are unconstitutional because the Federal Government is a government of limited, 

ennumerated powers, and the American people never granted the 

Federal Government general or plenary police power it could use 

to control the type of violent crimes covered by the offenses. 

The Supreme Court, in 1996 and again in 2000, struck down 

Federal laws governing remarkably similar crimes because Congress did not have the power to control them. The court made it 

plain that Congress does not have commerce power to control violent, non-economic crimes like those covered by the HCPA’s two 

hate crimes offenses. 

The HCPA also suggests that Congress might have a power 

under one of the Civil War Amendments to grant Federal law enforcement control over this violent non-economic crime. But the Supreme Court reaffirmed in the Morrison case in 2000 that the 

Fourteenth Amendment enforcement power applies only to State 

action, that is government action, whereas the HCPA’s hate crimes 

offenses cover violent crime covered by individuals who do not act 

‘‘under color of law.’’ 

The constitutional restrictions on Congress’s power to criminalize 

are no mere theoretical niceties. Like most constitutional restrictions they protect individual rights. The case of NFL quarterback 

Michael Vick provides one recent illustration of this problem. For 

his dog-fighting offenses, Vick had to face prosecution by both the 

Justice Department, as well as a State prosecution in Virginia. The 

burden of defending double prosecutions makes it far less likely 

then an accused person will be able to exercise his constitutional 

right to trial by jury. 

If I could quote from the Supreme Court in Miller v. United 

States, 1958, it says, ‘‘However much in a particular case insistence 

upon constitutional standards may appear as a technicality that inures to the benefit of a guilty person, the history of the criminal 

28 

law proves that tolerance of short-cut methods in law enforcement 

impairs its enduring effectiveness.’’ 

These offenses are prone to abuse and injustice because the language used to define them is overly broad and amorphous. First, 

the offenses do not require a person charged under them to have 

been motivated by hatred toward the victim or toward the racial-, 

gender-, or other group to which the victim belonged, or toward any 

other person. 

These crimes do not require hate, and it is at best misleading to 

call them ‘‘hate crimes.’’ I do not believe that this is an oversight, 

for I cite in my written statement leading scholars who talk about 

the elimination of the hate motivation from ‘‘bias crimes,’’ and I’m 

happy to provide additional information about that scholarship. 

Second, the two offenses attempt to transform ordinary acts of violence into Federal crimes if they are committed ‘‘because of’’ the 

actual or perceived race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religion, national origin, gender, or gender identity of any person. In 

other words, it would be a Federal offense even if the defendant 

acted because of his own, for example, gender or gender identity, 

or if the crime was somehow caused by the religion of a third person. 

In sum, the best way I can put it is that the HCPA would make 

every violent crime a Federal crime if it was in some way related 

to someone else’s membership in one of the favored groups. This is 

an exceedingly broad scope, and it would lead to selective enforcement of the HCPA. The Federal Government currently conducts 

only 1 percent of the arrests made each year throughout the Nation 

and has nowhere near the resources necessary to investigate and 

prosecute every violent crime that could be deemed a hate crime 

under the HCPA. 

Selective enforcement of an exceedingly broad law is generally 

impossible to distinguish from a politically motivated prosecution. 

Such laws undermine our criminal justice system by undermining 

Americans’ confidence in the fairness of our criminal justice system. The destructive effect is compounded, as is illustrated in the 

debate over this bill, when the overly broad law purports to grant 

greater protections against violent crime to some Americans than 

to others. 

Finally, as has been noted, not only is it the States’ job to control 

ordinary crime, the underlying conduct that the HCPA would make 

Federal ‘‘hate crimes’’ has always been criminalized in all of the 50 

States. Further, forty-five States already have criminal statutes 

imposing harsher penalties for crimes that are motivated by bias. 

The benefits and problems resulting from those statutes remain to 

be proven, but the overwhelming trend in the States has been to 

increase the number and scope of hate crime statutes. 

In sum, the constitutional flaws alone undermine the validity of 

HCPA’s hate crimes offenses, but they are also invitations to abuse 

and unneeded by the States to fulfill their core responsibility of 

controlling local crime. 

Thank you again, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to answering the 

members’ questions. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you, Mr. Walsh. 

29 

Our final witness on this panel is Michael Lieberman. Michael 

Lieberman is the Washington counsel for the Anti-Defamation 

League, one of the Nation’s premier civil rights and human rights 

organizations dedicated to combatting hate, anti-Semitism, and 

other forms of bigotry. He is also co-chair of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights’ Hate Crime Task Force that recently issued 

a report entitled ‘‘Confronting the New Face of Hate: Hate Crimes 

in America, 2009’’. 

Mr. Lieberman. 

STATEMENT OF MICHAEL LIEBERMAN, WASHINGTON COUNSEL, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE, AND CO-CHAIR, LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON CIVIL RIGHTS’ HATE CRIME TASK 

FORCE WASHINGTON, DC 

Mr. LIEBERMAN. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member 

Sessions. I am Michael Lieberman, the Washington Counsel for the 

Anti-Defamation League and co-chair of the Leadership Conference 

on Civil Rights’ Hate Crime Task Force. We really appreciate the 

Committee’s attention to this issue today. I am pleased to represent ADL and LCCR on this panel. 

We support The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, 

and this is notable because it’s rare for a coalition of civil rights, 

education, and religious organizations to support expanded Federal 

criminal authority. Groups like the LCCR, the NAACP, Human 

Rights First, and the American Association of University Women, 

all members of the Hate Crimes Coalition, do not usually come before you to advocate for expanded Federal police powers. It is even 

more extraordinary that we do so today hand in hand with the 

International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National District Attorneys Association, and virtually every other major law enforcement organization in the country. 

Violent hate crimes have a special impact on the victim and their 

communities. They merit special attention and they receive it. For 

example, the FBI has been the Nation’s repository for crime statistics since 1930. They publish an annual report called ‘‘Crime in the 

United States’’. Every year the FBI disaggregates that data and 

publishes two, exactly two, separate reports on crime issues that 

they believe impact Americans dramatically. One of those reports 

is about law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, obviously a matter of great concern, and the other report is about hate 

crimes in America, recognizing their importance and their impact. 

In 2007, the most recent data available, the FBI documented 

7,624 hate crimes, as you heard, almost one hate crime every hour 

of every day. Hate crimes against Hispanics have increased in each 

of the past four years and the number of sexual orientation hate 

crimes rose to its highest level in five years. We support S. 909 because we see a disturbing prevalence of hate violence in America, 

an inadequate patchwork of State hate crime laws and deficiencies 

in existing Federal criminal civil rights laws. 

State and local law enforcement authorities prosecute the overwhelming majority of hate crime cases and will continue to do so 

after this legislation is enacted. Federal authority has been used 

very rarely. But those cases are really important and demonstrate 

our Nation’s commitment to confront the very worst violent hate 

30 

crimes, like the murder of Yankel Rosenbaum in the Crown 

Heights section of Brooklyn in 1991, and cases that involve organized hate groups and neo-Nazi skinheads, and the recent successful prosecution of Latino gang members in Los Angeles who had 

hunted African-Americans as a gang-initiation rite. 

The legislation before you is narrow, measured, modest, and constitutionally sound. It complements and fills gaps in the patchwork 

of existing State laws. Yes, 45 States and the District of Columbia 

have hate crime laws, but only 30 States and the District include 

sexual orientation, only 26 States and the District include gender, 

only 12 States and the District include gender identity, and only 

30 States and the District include disability. 

We know that bigotry cannot be legislated out of existence. A 

new Federal law that finally addresses all victims of hate crimes 

will not eliminate them, but Federal involvement in select cases 

where State and local officials cannot, or will not act, and expanded 

Federal partnerships with State and local officials will result in 

more effective response to these crimes. A new LCCR Education 

Fund report, attached as Appendix A, describes a number of very 

disturbing trends and further underscores the need for this legislation. 

The report documents increased hate group recruitment after the 

election of our first African-American President and an increase in 

demonizing, hateful rhetoric against Hispanics, immigrants, and 

those who look like immigrants. The shooting at the U.S. Holocaust 

Memorial Museum earlier this month reminds us, as the museum 

itself does every day, where the spread of hate can lead. We urge 

you to enact this essential legislation to equip Federal, State and 

local law enforcement officials with the very best tools to confront 

this national problem. 

Thank you. 

Senator CARDIN. Let me thank each of you for your testimony 

here today. I want to start with Ms. Heriot, if I might. You referred 

to the position of the Commission on Civil Rights, a letter sent to 

the Congress dated April 29, 2009, your letter. I’m going to ask 

that that be included in the record, without objection. 

[The letter appears as a submission for the record.] 

Senator CARDIN. And then as you’ve indicated, two members of 

the Commission dissented from that position. They sent us a letter 

dated June 17, 2009. I’m going to ask that that letter also be included in the record, without objection. 

[The letter appears as a submission for the record.] 

Senator CARDIN. And I want to give you a chance to respond to 

what the two dissenting Commissioners said, because I think their 

statements are pretty profound and I just want to make sure that 

you have a chance to respond to that. 

They basically said that you reached your conclusions without 

any benefit of any research, ‘‘the opposition does not reflect a studied position backed by the agency’s research.’’ It goes on to say, 

‘‘The Commission’s national staff has done no fact finding into the 

extent or damage of hate crimes in recent years.’’ 

Do you care to respond? Was there research done? Did you have 

statistical information? Did you do any recent fact-finding before 

reaching your conclusions? 

31 

Ms. HERIOT. Quite a lot of research went into this. I’m not certain what caused Commissioner Melendez and Yaki to think otherwise, but in fact the members of the Commission have made a 

study of hate crimes. 

Senator CARDIN. Could you make available to this Committee a 

copy of—— 

Ms. HERIOT. My testimony is based on some of the research that 

was done. 

Senator CARDIN. No. But could you—— 

Ms. HERIOT. This was research done by me. 

Senator CARDIN. Could you make available to the Committee the 

research done by the staff at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 

in background for making—— 

Ms. HERIOT. Yes. As a member of the Commission, I did that research. Also, other members of the Commission are quite knowledgeable about hate crimes. 

Senator CARDIN. Is it documented? Do we have—is there material? 

Ms. HERIOT. My testimony is the product of that research. 

Senator CARDIN. Was your testimony made available to the Commission before it acted on—— 

Ms. HERIOT. It was made available to people who wanted to read 

it. 

Senator CARDIN. Before the Commission took action? 

Ms. HERIOT. I know that many members of the Commission were 

aware of what I had done, and already knew quite a bit about—— 

Senator CARDIN. Your testimony—your testimony is—I believe 

is—let me take a look at it here. If I understand your testimony, 

in preparation for today’s hearing, that was prepared then last 

April—am I getting the dates right here? 

Ms. HERIOT. I wrote it back—I wrote—the document that that’s 

based on, it’s gone through several different kinds of versions. 

Senator CARDIN. My question to you—— 

Ms. HERIOT. It actually was written, I think, back in November 

and December, mostly. 

Senator CARDIN. If there was a document made available to the 

Commission, if there was research done by the staff of the Commission, if you would make that available to the Committee we would 

certainly appreciate it, because it’s our understanding that there 

was not staff research done. We appreciate your energy as a Commission member. That’s important. We want to know whether the 

Commission staff did research into—— 

Ms. HERIOT. The Commission staff doesn’t direct the Commission, of course. The Commission directs the staff. So when members of the Commission do their own research, there’s nothing 

wrong with that, Senator. In fact, I would think it’s a good thing. 

Senator CARDIN. No, I understand that. I’d just point out that 

your testimony is dated June 25th, which is today’s date. 

Ms. HERIOT. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. 

Senator CARDIN. We don’t have the benefit of the documents that 

were made available by research by either the Commissioners or 

by the staff. But look, you might be unique. I do a little bit of my 

own research too, but I do rely upon our staff to get—— 

Ms. HERIOT. I do a lot of my own research. 

32 

Senator CARDIN. I appreciate that. 

Ms. HERIOT. I’m a professor of law. 

Senator CARDIN. You’re a former staffer here. 

Ms. HERIOT. Yes. Uh-huh. 

Senator CARDIN. I understand that. 

Let me ask you the second point that’s made in this letter that 

is very disturbing. It says, ‘‘Unfortunately, the name of the U.S. 

Commission on Civil Rights, once renowned for its bipartisanship, 

scholarship, and presentation of hard facts, should be misused to 

oppose this critical legislation. We regret the Agency has come to 

operate in such a sharply ideological manner and look forward to 

a time when the Commission again speaks with a bipartisan voice 

to advance and protect civil rights.’’ 

Ms. HERIOT. And you’re asking me to comment on that? 

Senator CARDIN. Yes. 

Ms. HERIOT. Six members of the Commission agreed on this. I 

think that when six members of the Commission believe that legislation pending before Congress is not a good idea, they should 

speak up. There has never been a time that the Commission insists 

on unanimous decisions. 

Senator CARDIN. I’d point out that the—— 

Ms. HERIOT. And just like the Senate does not requite unanimity. 

Senator CARDIN. I understand that. 

Ms. HERIOT. There are times I wish that it did, but it doesn’t. 

Senator CARDIN. The Commission is supposed to be evenly divided politically, but instead, two of the independents, one was a 

former Republican, one turned Republican, that joined in the opinion. I just point that out because it appears to us that it was sharply divided along a partisan basis, which is something that we want 

to avoid with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. We expect you 

to try to do what sometimes we’re unable to do in this Congress, 

to reach a bipartisan conclusion. It appears like—— 

Ms. HERIOT. And we make every effort to do so. 

Senator CARDIN. It appears like you did not succeed in this case. 

Ms. HERIOT. We did get six out of eight. 

Senator CARDIN. Senator Sessions. 

Senator SESSIONS. Thank you. 

The chairman and vice chairman of the Commission also signed? 

Ms. HERIOT. That’s right. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, with regard to this research, this Commission has been dealing with these issues for many, many years. 

But I would ask, maybe Mr. Walsh, are you aware of any in-depth 

research, as Senator Hatch has referred to for years in the Senate, 

that has been done to justify a need to pass this legislation based 

on a failure of States to enforce these laws in any significant way? 

Mr. WALSH. I am not. My experience is that most of the evidence 

is anecdotal, which, however, is not to discount the individual 

cases. 

Senator SESSIONS. A lot of the cases they cite, isn’t it a fact that 

the defendants were convicted, some given the death penalty, some 

given life without parole, and they’re cited in a way that suggests 

that somehow justice didn’t get done in those cases? 

Mr. WALSH. I think that’s correct, and often misleading. Even in 

the Holocaust Museum shooting, already the Justice Department 

33 

has filed a complaint in that case that includes—not necessarily an 

indictment, but a complaint in that case—and it indicates that 

murder in the first degree, under Federal law, 18 USC 1111, will 

be charged in that case. The mandatory minimum penalty for that 

is death or life imprisonment, and that is in addition to the other 

charge that has been put in the complaint. 

Senator SESSIONS. Professor Heriot—is that? 

Ms. HERIOT. Heriot. Yes. 

Senator SESSIONS. I know you take these issues seriously, I know 

the Commission does. 

Ms. HERIOT. I’ve been working on this issue back from 1998 

when the first hearing was held here. That’s when I first started—— 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, these are important things and they reflect somewhat how we think about the difficult questions of race 

and gender in America. We need to do the right thing about it. But 

you suggest, or I believe you state in your testimony that this bill 

is so vaguely worded that all rape cases could be covered by this 

statute, making a monumental change in Federal law. I would say 

if you made every rape case prosecutable under the Federal law, 

that may be more, except for drugs, than any other crime the Federal Government would have jurisdiction over, perhaps. 

Ms. HERIOT. I’m not sure of that, but—— 

Senator SESSIONS. But anyway, so the question is, do you think 

that’s a fair interpretation of the statute? 

Ms. HERIOT. It’s very interesting. That language, that ‘‘because 

of’’ language, is so very loose. The first time I saw it, which again, 

was back when I was working for the Committee on the Judiciary, 

I thought, well, a mistake has been made here. They probably 

didn’t mean to word it quite that broadly. 

We had a few representatives of the Department of Justice come 

by to talk to the staff, and I mentioned to them that I thought this 

was worded too broadly and it needed to be cleaned up a little. 

Much to my surprise, they were very much against changing the 

language. When I asked them, do you think this will cover all rape, 

I thought they would say no, but they didn’t. They refused to disclaim the possibility that it would cover all rape. They evidently 

liked that broad interpretation—very much. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, let’s talk about that. Mr. Walsh, the 

Heritage Foundation is a strong believer in the Constitution and 

the classical rights of individuals. Doesn’t this give, therefore, the 

Attorney General breathtaking authority to pick and choose what 

crimes they want to prosecute, and in the scheme and in the history of the American legal experience, isn’t it true that criminal 

statutes, we’ve always endeavored to see that they’re clear and 

cover precisely the crime that we’re talking about? 

Mr. WALSH. That’s correct. I think in many ways this is—I’ll get 

to the core of the central problem with the statute, which is that 

it invites the selective prosecution. As was mentioned numerous 

times by the testimony by other witnesses, including the Attorney 

General, the Justice Department would not weigh in on every case 

that was a hate crime, it would select which cases it would get engaged in. That is the essence of an unfair criminal statute. 

34 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, isn’t that contrary to the American heritage of law? Basically, I remember a robbery statute is the taking 

of a thing of value from the person of another through force, violence, or intimidation. You have to prove each one. That’s all the 

robbery statute is, about this long. Now isn’t this one of the most 

broad statutes you’ve ever heard of? 

Mr. WALSH. It’s a very broad statute. There are broad statutes 

throughout criminal law, but this one is exceedingly broad. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, it just gives the Attorney General the 

right to pick and choose his favorite groups of the day, maybe the 

group that supported the Attorney General or the President that 

appointed him. That’s the kind of thing we get into when you have 

such a broad problem. 

Mr. Chairman, I also would ask each of these panel members, if 

you can cite a specific case where injustice was done in the last 

half-dozen years, I’d like to see it, because I do think before we do 

this kind of unusual legal action, that we have a basis for it based 

in research and documentation. Thank you. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you, Senator Sessions. 

I’ve just got to be perfectly open about this. As I listened to Mrs. 

Heriot’s examples, it flashes back to the days when we were trying 

to pass the Fair Housing Act. I’ve been in a legislative body for a 

long time, back to the 1960s, and I heard the same arguments 

being made to try to block just about every civil rights bill with 

these examples. 

This legislation is an effort to try to fill in the gaps, fill in the 

gaps at the national level. We have a hate crimes statute, but it 

is limited to where the crime can be committed and it doesn’t cover 

those who are victims because of their sexual orientation or disability. I do think Federal crimes should be limited to matters of 

national importance. I don’t know of a more important subject than 

the principles of our Nation and embracing diversity. The trends 

today are concerning. 

So I do think this is a fundamental issue, but I have a question 

for each one of the panelists, and it’s a pretty simple one, following 

on Senator Schumer’s comments about trying to understand what 

happens when Congress votes on this issue. I guess my point is, 

what is the message to the American people if the U.S. Congress 

either passes this enhanced hate crimes statute or fails to pass this 

hate crimes statute? Mrs. Cohen. 

Mrs. COHEN. Well, it’s a very interesting question. Not being a 

lawyer but a lay person, I find that—having my husband serve on 

this Committee and in this body, I find that you need to deliberate 

and debate. And, of course when you do that, many times the 

weapon of delay comes, and that means denial. I have seen cases 

in my own life, growing up in a black ghetto, when we’d see the 

police it was a sign of being patrolled and not protected. But I also 

know that if you give this law to this Attorney General, it will be 

used wisely because of his brilliance and his integrity, and because 

of his history. 

As you well know, Senator Sessions, we needed Federal laws and 

Federal troops to go in to have this Attorney General’s sister-in-law 

integrate the University of Alabama. So when I think of police, I 

have mixed emotions. And I think of what you said, Michael LieVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:57 Jun 10, 2010 Jkt 056684 PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\56684.TXT SJUD1 PsN: CMORC
35 

berman, about, it is rare for people of our sensibilities to ask for 

law enforcement, to have the Federal Government intervene. But 

you are charged to protect us and no other help do we know. We 

are trusting that you will make the laws of this land to govern all 

of the people equally and justly. I hope that answers your question. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you. 

Dr. Achtemeier. 

Dr. ACHTEMEIER. When I received the invitation to be here today, 

I naturally spoke with friends and family out in Iowa about the 

issue. These are people from across the political spectrum, conservatives and liberals, old and young. The universal response I got 

was: how could you not be for this legislation? There was a clear 

perception of a problem. No, we don’t have statistical reports, but 

there’s an awful lot in the headlines. Ordinary Iowans and relatives from around the country have a distinct sense that certain 

groups in our society are in more jeopardy than others and require 

particular protections. 

So I think if the Senate failed to pass this, the attitudes back in 

Iowa, at least, would be mute astonishment, wondering how the 

government can abandon these most vulnerable members of our society. I think that would be seen as a failure of what the government is supposed to do. 

Senator CARDIN. Mrs. Heriot. 

Ms. HERIOT. I’m afraid that if this legislation is passed, the ultimate message is going to be that making a political statement is 

more important than passing well-drafted and well-thought out legislation. If the legislation is not passed, what the message will be 

will depend upon what members of the Senate make the message. 

That’s what leadership is all about, explaining why a particular 

item of legislation should be rejected under the circumstances. 

It’s easy for people at home not really to know a lot about the 

legislation. They hear: ‘‘well, it’s about hate crimes. I’m against 

hate crimes.’’ Well, all decent people are against hate crimes. But 

if you tell them about the double jeopardy issue, about various 

other issues that are connected to this message, then they’ll get a 

very different message and I think that is very much the responsibility of all members of the Senate, all members of the House, and 

of the President of the United States. 

Now, Mrs. Cohen just pointed out a moment ago something very 

important, and that is our present Attorney General, she believes, 

is a very talented individual, and I have certainly no reason to disagree with that. But we don’t know who the Attorney General is 

going to be next, or the next one after that, or the one 30 attorney 

generals down the road. That’s why legislation is important. It has 

to be well-drafted, well-thought out, and this has not been. 

Senator CARDIN. I was just trying to get your response to, whether it passes or not—we try not to do rebuttal, but I know sometimes it’s difficult. 

Ms. HERIOT. It was on point, I’m afraid. 

Senator CARDIN. I’m tempted to ask you whether you would favor 

the repeal of our current hate crimes. I guess the answer would 

probably be yes, you don’t think the Federal Government should 

have a law here. 

Dr. Walsh? Mister. 

36 

Mr. WALSH. Mister, thank you. I think the—thanks for the promotion there. 

[Laughter.] 

Mr. WALSH. I think the message would be that the U.S. Congress 

takes the Constitution very seriously, and it uses the criminal law 

very wisely—the same way that we have criticized gang-crime legislation because it would over-criminalize in that context. I think 

the American people, if they read this bill and they understood the 

rule of law and they believe we should adhere to the rule of law, 

they would understand that this is a measure that undermines 

that. 

I, too, believe that Attorney General Holder will probably apply 

this in a proper manner, however, he’s not the one who makes the 

initial decision in individual cases. The people who make the decisions in individual cases are individual Federal prosecutors. 

Second, is that we should not be trusting in Mr. Holder, we 

should be trusting in the rule of law. That’s what a well-tailored, 

narrow law does for us, one that’s constitutional. It gives us the 

ability to look to the law itself and not to an individual and rely 

on them to make sure that they apply it wisely. Again, coming back 

to the root concern, I think if Americans understood the law they’d 

be glad to know that prosecutors will not be given a broad mandate 

to Federalize crimes and decide that if they are unjustly accused 

of a crime of violence, that the Feds might jump in and decide to 

prosecute it as well. 

Senator CARDIN. Mr. Lieberman, what is the message to the 

American people on this? 

Mr. LIEBERMAN. Senator Cardin, I think the message when this 

bill is enacted into law is that these crimes matter very much to 

the U.S. Government, that every hate crime victim should be protected, every hate crime victim matters. These are selective prosecutions. They are bias-motivated crimes, they are violent conduct. 

They cause bodily injury. They’re cases where State and locals 

can’t, or won’t. I think orders of magnitude are very important 

here. 

Since 1991, there have been 129,000 hate crimes reported to the 

FBI and less than 170 indictments under the current statute, 18 

USC 245, the parallel to what will be 18 USC 249. In no year since 

1968 have there ever been more than 10 indictments under the existing statute. That is very selective, but as I mentioned in my testimony, very, very important cases that send a dramatic message 

to the victims and to the community that these crimes will be 

taken seriously by the U.S. Government. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you. 

Senator Sessions. 

Senator SESSIONS. Thank you. 

Well, this is a good discussion. I think it’s important. I’ve been 

giving a lot of thought recently to the great heritage of law that 

this Nation has been blessed to have. When you travel around the 

world like I have, six times to Iraq, six times to Afghanistan, the 

West Bank, Pakistan, places that—and even countries that do 

much better, still don’t have anything like the magnificent rule of 

law that we have. It protects everybody. A poor person can expect, 

and must be given, their day in court. 

37 

But we are a Nation of laws and not of men. That’s a fundamental principle of this Republic, and I think it’s a good principle. 

I don’t think that we’ve ever thought that it’s wise to give power 

to the Attorney General to pick and choose crimes to an extraordinary degree. If they’re not being prosecuted, if legitimate cases 

aren’t being made, then I can understand that. So, it puts me in 

a difficult position. 

I don’t want to have—I thought I heard Senator Schumer say basically, if you don’t vote for this bill you’re for hate. I don’t think 

he meant that. Hopefully he didn’t. But it’s kind of what our—so 

I don’t think that’s accurate. I’m not going to be put in that box. 

I’m not going to be intimidated. We’re going to think this thing 

through. 

If you can show that there is statistical research that indicates 

that a serious problem exists in this country, I’m willing to talk 

about it. It did exist, Ms. Cohen, in the South throughout much of 

our history and we have that Civil Rights Act that allowed that to 

happen. It was justified, as I said in my opening statement, because the facts justified that. 

You know the discrimination; African-Americans couldn’t go to 

certain schools, they couldn’t use certain restrooms, there were 

other kinds of routine biases against them. Out of that was why 

this bill passed. But today I am not sure women or people with different sexual orientations face that kind of discrimination. I just 

don’t see it. So I believe that if they are harassed or discriminated 

against unfairly, we probably have the laws—I believe we have the 

laws to fix it. So what the question would be, is this one necessary? 

I’m not sure that it is. Matter of fact, I don’t think that it is, based 

on what I know. 

If you take these examples of crimes that I asked the Attorney 

General about, I thought about one. Let me ask you, Ms. Heriot. 

An individual, perhaps, let’s say hypothetically, is angry that the 

husband left his sister alone with a bunch of children and he takes 

up a homosexual lifestyle which he thinks is bad and he attacks 

this former brother-in-law. Would that—— 

Ms. HERIOT. I’m getting confused over the theory of relativity 

here. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, the question would be, would that cover 

the circumstances? 

Ms. HERIOT. You’re going to have to run the facts by me again 

there. 

Senator SESSIONS. Okay. The facts would be that, let’s say that 

a man left his wife and children. 

Ms. HERIOT. Okay. 

Senator SESSIONS. And adopted a homosexual lifestyle. 

Ms. HERIOT. Okay. 

Senator SESSIONS. And the brother of the wife, former wife, 

doesn’t like this and attacks the man and states that he didn’t like 

his lifestyle when he attacked him. Would that meet the basic 

standards of this case? 

Ms. HERIOT. That’s actually a good, good hypothetical. I like that 

hypothetical. The answer is, I think probably a Federal prosecutor 

could look at that case and say, yes, it’s covered. 

38 

Senator SESSIONS. Now, if the man ran off with another woman 

and he had the same anger in his system and he has a confrontation and attacks him, would that cover it? 

Ms. HERIOT. Run it by me again. 

Senator SESSIONS. If the husband ran off with another woman, 

leaving his wife and children, and his brother, to avenge this, attacks him, would that meet the same standards? Would that be a 

Federal crime, potentially, also? 

Ms. HERIOT. If you really, really wanted to make an argument 

for it, yes, you can. 

Senator SESSIONS. Mr. Walsh, I see you nodding. Do you agree 

with that? 

Mr. WALSH. Yes, I think it would. I think it’s broad enough to 

encompass anything that is ‘‘because of’’ somebody’s gender or sexual orientation. 

Ms. HERIOT. Yes. He wouldn’t have gone after him had he not 

been a man. That’s the trouble with this whole issue of causation, 

this ‘‘because of’’. I mean, causation issues have been giving philosophers problems since Aristotle. It’s hard. What do we mean 

when we say something happens because of something else? Well, 

usually things have lots of causes. Almost always, every event has 

a lot of causes. 

Crimes are often motivated by very complex emotions and very 

complex needs and such. It’s not very often that you run across the 

case of the absolutely pure hate crime, someone decides to pick 

someone else at random from the population for absolutely no reason other than that person’s race, or sex, or handicap. It’s very difficult to come up with real cases that are really motivated that 

way. 

What happens is, race and sex and disability and sexual orientation get put into the mix. The question is, how much of the result 

has to be connected or how closely must that motivation be connected to race, sex, et cetera? Is this part of it or does it have to 

be the primary motivation? One thing that could be done here that 

might be useful is amending this bill so that it requires that the 

motivation be the primary motivation. Now, that’s something that 

the Department of Justice, back when I was working for the Judiciary Committee, didn’t want, but I think it would improve the bill. 

Mr. WALSH. Can I mention another amendment? This bill would 

be much different if it was limited to those acts of bodily injury 

that were under color of law, and really we’ve been talking about 

de jure, legalized discrimination, racial hatred, et cetera. That is 

really what the Fourteenth Amendment, Thirteenth Amendment, 

Fifteenth Amendment were put in place to address. So we have a 

very clear response when there has been an official act of racial 

segregation in this Nation, it was the Civil War amendments. 

If this statute clearly flowed out of the Civil War amendments, 

in other words, it derived its power from them, if it was under law 

where if it was shown that there was a widespread, systematic disregard of a State’s own laws on hate crimes or a State’s own law 

on violence, if they weren’t being enforced against when the acts 

were committed against gays or committed against any individual, 

anything that shows that there’s a de jure, tacit approval, then this 

would be a different law altogether and I think that that would 

39 

make a lot more sense because that type of discrimination is something that we’ve made clear in the Civil War amendments, and 

since then in the Civil Rights Acts as well, that that is entirely off 

the board and something that the Federal Government can get involved in. 

Senator SESSIONS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is a good discussion, a good panel. I appreciate it very much. I think I understand the feelings that are here and we’ll have to wrestle with 

them. I’ve got a number of statements from other members that I’d 

offer for the record, Mr. Chairman, and I appreciate the opportunity. 

[The prepared statements appear as a submission for the record.] 

Senator CARDIN. I would just make an observation. I couldn’t disagree more with Professor Heriot’s observations of what’s happening in the real world. I think Mr. Lieberman’s number of, I 

think it was 80,000 episodes in the last decade reported indicates 

that we have a significant problem of people being targeted in 

America for violence solely because of their race, their religion, 

their national origin, their sexual orientation, their disability. This 

is a growing problem. 

Look, the message—I’m going to answer my own question. The 

message when we pass this—and I certainly hope that we will pass 

this—is that America has made a priority protecting people from 

violence because of diversity, that diversity is embraced in America 

as our strength. I really do look forward to the day—look, the number of prosecutions are going to be small. Mr. Lieberman’s point is 

well taken. We don’t expect there to be 80,000 prosecutions at the 

Federal level, we expect it to be a very small number. 

But it’s going to be meaningful and it’s going to have a major impact on the attitude in America. We’ve seen attitude change in this 

country. We’ve seen when it used to be acceptable to accept racial 

slurs in cocktail conversations. That’s no longer the case, I hope, 

in America today. Attitudes change. The Federal Government can 

play a critical role in bringing about that change, and this is one 

more chapter in achieving that goal. 

I really do hope that after we pass this statute, that there will 

come a time where we say, you know, this really isn’t needed anymore in America, that we really have achieved a circumstance 

where violence is not targeted against a person because of their diversity. I hope we all live long enough to see that day. We’re not 

there today. We need help. That’s why many of us believe this is 

a fundamental civil rights act that needs to be passed, and we’ll 

do everything we can to see it happen. I certainly appreciate Senator Sessions’ points, and I’m sure we will continue this dialog. 

If there is nothing further, here today is a statement for the 

record representing the International Association of Chiefs of Police, from Sergeant Kip Malcolm, Officer Brian Bennett, Lieutenant 

Crystal Nosil. If not, the record will remain open for additional 

questions that may be presented to our witnesses, and the hearing 

will stand adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12:20 p.m. the Committee was adjourned.] 

[Questions and answers and submissions for the record follow.] 

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Æ 


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