THIS WEEK IN HATE:  The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is holding a hearing on hate crimes on Friday.  (Yes, of course, you’re invited.)  For the reasons I wrote about in Lights! Camera! Legislation!:  Congress Set to Adopt Hate Crimes Bill That May Put Double Jeopardy Protections in Jeopardy, I opposed the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009.  But … well … I lost.  That happened to me a lot during the Obama Administration.

On Friday, I hope to learn more about how the statute has been implemented.  One of the things about the Act that bothers me is that is doesn’t actually require the prosecutor to prove the defendant was motivated by hatred.  It’s enough that the defendant acted “because of” somebody’s race, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.  That can cover an extraordinarily broad range of cases (as I describe in my essay).