Conservatives and other free-speech advocates criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi for declaring that the Department of Justice will “go after” those spreading “hate speech.”
“There’s free speech, and then there’s hate speech. And there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society. We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech,” Bondi stated during a Monday interview.
‘Arresting people for “hate speech” is about as liberal as it gets. Every conservative should oppose it.’
The backlash for the comment prompted Bondi to clarify her stance in a post on X Tuesday morning.
“Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It’s a crime. For far too long, we’ve watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence. That era is over,” Bondi wrote.
Free-speech advocates have long warned that the purpose of the First Amendment is to protect unpopular speech, including what some may consider “hate speech.” They caution that failing to uphold this principle would result in restrictions on freedom of expression.
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk stated in May 2024, “Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free.”
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Attorney General Pam Bondi. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
He argued that hate speech is “subjective” and that any laws restricting such expression would “be used against conservatives before it’s used against leftists.”
In July, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) slammed a California Senate bill that would penalize online platforms for failing to censor users.
“California wants to fine platforms $1 million if they don’t censor what they call ‘hate speech,'” Mace wrote. “Translation: Silence conservatives … or pay the price.”
By contrast, during a 2022 news interview with MSNBC, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz stated, “There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy.”
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Charlie Kirk. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
This remark was mentioned by then-Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) during last year’s vice presidential debate.
Vance told Walz, “You guys attack us for not believing in democracy. The most sacred right under the United States’ democracy is the First Amendment. You yourself have said there’s no First Amendment right to misinformation. Kamala Harris wants to use the power of government and Big Tech to silence people from speaking their minds. That is a threat to democracy that will long outlive this present political moment. I would like Democrats and Republicans to both reject censorship.”
Matt Walsh with the Daily Wire previously called hate speech “a meaningless term, and it should never be used as a pretense to ban, censor, arrest, punish or silence anyone, ever, under any circumstance.” He also stated, “Arresting people for ‘hate speech’ is about as liberal as it gets. Every conservative should oppose it.”
On Tuesday, a reporter questioned President Donald Trump about Bondi’s comments.
“What do you make of Pam Bondi saying she’s going to go after hate speech?” the reporter asked. “A lot of your allies say that hate speech is free speech.”
“She’ll probably go after people like you because you treat me so unfairly. It’s hate,” Trump replied. “You have a lot of hate in your heart.”
“We want everything to be fair. It hasn’t been fair. And the radical left has done tremendous damage to the country, but we’re fixing it,” he added.
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