司法部长帕姆·邦迪(Pam Bondi)周二面临两党的强烈反对，她的评论是，在保守派活动人士查理·柯克(Charlie Kirk)被杀后，司法部“绝对会针对”任何以“仇恨言论”为目标的人。
邦迪是在接受白宫副幕僚长斯蒂芬·米勒的妻子凯蒂·米勒的播客采访时做出上述评论的。
“有言论自由，然后有仇恨言论，没有地方，尤其是现在，尤其是在查理发生了什么事之后，在我们的社会，”邦迪说。
“你是否看到更多的执法部门在追捕这些使用仇恨言论并给人们戴上手铐的团体，以便我们向他们展示一些行动总比没有行动好?”米勒反问道。
“我们绝对会瞄准你，跟踪你，如果你瞄准任何有仇恨言论的人——那就在过道对面，”邦迪回应道。
邦迪的评论很快在社交媒体上获得了关注，一些用户回复了查理·柯克2024年的帖子，他写道:“仇恨言论在美国是不合法的。有难听的话。有粗俗的言语。有邪恶的言论。所有这些都受到第一修正案的保护。让美国保持自由。”
“需要有人向邦迪女士解释，所谓的‘仇恨言论’，尽管可能令人厌恶，却是受第一修正案保护的。她应该知道这一点，”保守派评论员Brit Hume在x上写道。
周二早上，邦迪在她的X账户上发表了一份挑衅性的声明，以回应日益高涨的反对声浪。
“跨越界限、构成暴力威胁的仇恨言论不受第一修正案的保护。这是犯罪，”邦迪写道。“太长时间以来，我们一直看着激进左派将威胁正常化，呼吁暗杀，并为政治暴力欢呼。那个时代已经结束了。”
邦迪列举了司法部历史上用来起诉暴力威胁的几项刑事法规。
“你不能要求谋杀某人。你不能打国会议员。你不能dox一个保守的家庭，并认为它会被刷为“言论自由。”这些行为是应受惩罚的罪行，每一个威胁都将受到法律的充分制裁，”邦迪写道。
“言论自由保护思想、辩论甚至异议，但它不会也永远不会保护暴力。很明显，这种暴力言论旨在阻止其他人表达保守主义理想，”她发布道。
在周一晚上福克斯新闻频道“Hannity”的单独采访中，邦迪还暗示她已经指示司法部民权司“起诉”拒绝为守夜活动印刷柯克照片的企业。不清楚在这种情况下什么刑事法规是相关的。
邦迪的评论如下总统唐纳德·特朗普和其他白宫高级官员在柯克遇刺后，他们多次表示将利用司法部明确针对左翼团体。
在特朗普的第一届政府期间，司法部官员一再抵制特朗普和白宫将Antifa指定为国内恐怖组织的尝试——他们称此举“非常有问题”，很可能与第一修正案相冲突。
第一修正案保护喜欢发表“仇恨言论”和“与持有相同仇恨观点的人聚集在一起”的美国人的权利，因此“除非一个组织只从事不受保护的活动，如实施暴力犯罪，否则任何将(总部设在美国的)组织指定为恐怖组织的行为……都可能违反第一修正案，”司法部国家安全司前负责人玛丽·麦考德在2020年1月对众议院小组说。
Bondi faces criticism for saying DOJ will 'target' anyone who engages in 'hate speech'
Attorney General Pam Bondi faced bipartisan backlash Tuesday over her comments that the Justice Department "will absolutely target" anyone who targets others with "hate speech" in the wake of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Bondi made the comments in a podcast interview with Katie Miller, the wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
"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," Bondi said.
"Do you see more law enforcement going after these groups who are using hate speech and putting cuffs on people so we show them some action is better than no action?" Miller asked in response.
"We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech -- and that's across the aisle," Bondi responded.
Bondi's comments quickly gained traction across social media, with some users replying with a 2024 post from Charlie Kirk, in which he wrote: "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."
"Someone needs to explain to Ms. Bondi that so-called 'hate speech,' repulsive though it may be, is protected by the First Amendment. She should know this," conservative commentator Brit Hume wrote on X.
Bondi issued a defiant statement from her X account on Tuesday morning in response to mounting backlash.
"Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It's a crime," Bondi wrote. "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 listed out several criminal statutes the Justice Department has historically deployed to prosecute threats of violence.
"You cannot call for someone's murder. You cannot swat a Member of Congress. You cannot dox a conservative family and think it will be brushed off as 'free speech.' These acts are punishable crimes, and every single threat will be met with the full force of the law," Bondi wrote.
"Free speech protects ideas, debate, even dissent but it does NOT and will NEVER protect violence. It is clear this violent rhetoric is designed to silence others from voicing conservative ideals," she posted.
In a separate interview on Fox News' "Hannity" on Monday evening, Bondi also suggested she has directed the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to "prosecute" businesses that refuse to print Kirk's pictures for vigils. It is not clear what criminal statute would be relevant in that instance.
Bondi's comments come asPresidentDonald Trumpand other senior White House officialshave repeatedly said they would use the Justice Department in the wake of Kirk's assassination to explicitly target left wing groups.
During Trump's first administration, Justice Department officials repeatedly resisted attempts by Trump and the White House to designate Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization -- a move they described as "highly problematic" and which would likely run afoul of the First Amendment.
The First Amendment protects the rights of Americans who like spewing "hateful speech" and "assembling with others who share the same hateful views," so "unless an organization engages solely in unprotected activity, such as committing crimes of violence, any designation of a (U.S.-based) organization as a terrorist organization … would likely run afoul of the First Amendment," Mary McCord, the former head of the Justice Department's National Security Division, told a House panel in January of 2020.
