Texas Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee introduced a bill to combat ‘White supremacy’ by criminalizing certain forms of hate speech.
After the ill-fated attempt by the Biden administration to monitor Americans’ speech online, Jackson Lee introduced the Leading Against White Supremacy Act of 2023 to assign criminal punishment for certain forms of hate speech.
The bill’s language is broad and could result in people facing criminal charges for sharing hateful content, including on social media.
Under Jackson Lee’s bill, a ‘person engages in a white supremacy inspired hate crime when white supremacy ideology has motivated the planning, development, preparation, or perpetration of actions that constituted a crime or were undertaken in furtherance of activity that, if effectuated, would have constituted a crime.’
The bill would impose criminal penalties for anyone who ‘published material advancing white supremacy, white supremacist ideology, antagonism based on ‘replacement theory,’ or hate speech that vilifies or is otherwise directed against any non-White person or group, and such published material,’ if it was ‘read, heard, or viewed by a person who engaged in the planning, development, preparation, or perpetration of a white supremacy inspired hate crime.’
Jackson Lee’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The bill dropped as the GOP-led Congress marches forward into a new term after a turbulent first week of 15 rounds of voting for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Jackson Lee’s bill is highly unlikely to pass in the GOP-controlled chamber, making it more of a messaging tool than anything else.
Currently, the bill has no cosponsors.