Unconstitutional Hate Crime Bills on Hold After Recent Supreme Court Ruling
As you know, we've been vigorously engaging the grassroots to oppose HB 4474 and 4475, which created criminal and civil repercussions against anyone whose exercise of speech is perceived to be offensive—a truly slippery slope towards shutting down free speech of any kind. Click here to read our testimony. These bills passed the House and were about to head straight to the Senate floor.
But on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of free speech in Counterman v. Colorado, supporting many of the same arguments we've been making against the hate speech bills, along with Salt & Light Global. We're happy to report that these bills have been pulled from the Senate agenda. If they come up again, they'll likely be rewritten in a way that does not violate our constitutionally protected right to religious liberty and free speech. This is an answer to the prayers of many! We will continue to keep an eye on this and update you if things change.
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