Congress shall make no law...

Congress made a law. Not the entire Congress yet, thank God, but I would be surprised if, should this come up for a vote, the Senate doesn't agree with the House. 

320-91: House passes bill to mandate the Education Department to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism when enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws.

187 Republicans and 133 Dems voted yes, while 21 Republicans and 70 Dems voted no. pic.twitter.com/4n7kiueLGP

— The Recount (@therecount) May 1, 2024

As I said yesterday, this is a dumb idea. A terrible, horrible, no-good very bad bill. 

Despite my superb advice, they decided to pass the bill anyway, by an overwhelming margin. 

Bills like this pop up in Congress often enough. Latch onto some issue that is symbolically attractive and force through a bill that nobody wants to oppose, no matter how awful the actual policy is. 

Americans--with the exception of a lot of radical Leftists--abhor antisemitism. It wasn't always that way, but as with anti-Black racism, most of us have moved on. If anything, Americans as a whole are philosemitic, admiring the tenacity with which the Jews have endured despite horrendous challenges. 

Hence the bill. We are appalled, so Congress delivers. 

Delivers a bill that eviscerates free speech rights in America. What idiots. 

GOP leaders this week announced plans for new oversight investigations of elite universities where — in the words of House Republican Whip Tom Emmer (Minn.) — “pro-terrorist anti-Semites [are] taking over.”And on Wednesday, they passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which its advocates said would empower the federal government to crack down on anti-Israel protests on campuses by codifying a definition of antisemitism that encompasses not just threats against Jews, but also certain criticisms of Israel itself.

“We must give the Department of Education the tools to … hold college administrators accountable for refusing to address antisemitism on their campuses,” said Rep. Michael Lawler (R-N.Y.), the bill’s lead sponsor.

The bill was approved by a vote of 320-91, with a majority of Democrats — 133 — joining Republicans.

I despise antisemites. I despise people who hate anybody not for what they did but for who they are. I hate the Iranian government, but I have found most Persians to be lovely people. I have met many Palestinians, some of whom are good and some bad, and I take them as they come. Same with Jews, Blacks, Whites...anybody. 

I also despise tyranny, and we have seen a lot of it in America. And this is a tyrannical bill. It regulates ideas, not actions. 

Regulating ideas or their expressions--short of incitement--is ethically wrong and morally stupid. It's better to have the bad ideas out in the open, not festering and growing into something much worse than offensive speech. 

“Nowhere else in First Amendment law does it say that you can criticize a certain country up to a certain limit, or else you might risk violating federal anti-discrimination law,” my colleague @tylercoward told @washingtonpost. pic.twitter.com/bWNKAQvdCV

— Nico Perrino (@NicoPerrino) May 2, 2024

Imagine, if you will, a similar law that applies to any issue. Congress defines the boundaries of what you can say and punishes you or an organization of which you are a part if the speech isn't suppressed. 

It's Orwellian. 

If it does become law, the federal definition of antisemitism, adopted from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, would include such speech as “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor”; “applying double standards” to Israel that are “not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation”; and “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”

The idea is that student-held signs, for example, like those displayed at Columbia University in New York this week, calling for “revolution” or “intifada” — which means “uprising” — would amount to antisemitism under the law. The Education Department, in turn, could then revoke federal research grants and other funding to a university that fails to take punitive action toward students who express such views, the bill’s proponents say.

The irony is that nothing like this bill is necessary to deal with the uprising in antisemitism that has sprung up on campuses. There are laws, rules, and codes of behavior that cover the excesses we have seen on campuses. You don't need speech codes or federal intervention to deal with campus unrest or the harassment of Jews or supporters of Israel. 

You have what you need because these students are already breaking the rules, and if Congress wants to punish the schools, they have everything they need without delving into the content of speech. 

I and others have spent years criticizing speech codes and censorship, and for the most part, Republicans have fought by our sides. 

Now this. 

Appalling. 

Note: I worked and wrote speeches for Tom Emmer when he ran for Governor of Minnesota in 2010 and consider him a friend. I am disappointed that he whipped for the bill.