Tina Smith: “Senator Kennedy has heard opponents of this legislation suggest all crime is hateful and this is unnecessary. But isn't…”

“Senator Kennedy has heard opponents of this legislation suggest all crime is hateful and this is unnecessary. But isn't it a fact that for 30 years America has had a hate crimes law, most States have hate crime laws? These have been vetted constitutionally, and even William Rehnquist, the Chief Justice, one of the great conservatives who ever served on the Court, was the author of the opinion that said hate crime laws are constitutional because crime always consists of elements, and hatred is one of the motives of determining whether this fits in the category of a hate crime. Aren't they constitutional? And isn't it a great moral principle for America to say, in terms of new categories of Americans who are demonstrably more vulnerable, that they should now be included in these very old statutes of the United States?”