Orrin Hatch: “I oppose this legislation. The bill before the Senate has vast ramifications. This bill represents a massive increase in…”

“I oppose this legislation. The bill before the Senate has vast ramifications. This bill represents a massive increase in Federal power. For example, Federal bureaucrats, Federal courts, and plaintiffs' lawyers will be given enormous new sway over our Nation's private employers, as well as State and local governments. This bill will be, if it passes and becomes law, a litigation bonanza. I think I have a reputation around here as supporting civil rights legislation. I do not want to see any discrimination against anybody in our society. As the coauthor of the AIDS bill, as the coauthor of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act, and other bills, I think my reputation is that of someone who decries discrimination in any form in our society. However, this bill, in my opinion, is the wrong way to go. Moreover, notwithstanding ineffective language in the bill, Federal bureaucrats at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, lawyers at the Department of Justice, along with plaintiffs' lawyers in Federal courts, will open up an entirely new category of preferences and reverse discrimination. This new category, make no mistake about it, will be based on sexual orientation. The moral and religious sensibilities of millions of Americans will be overridden if this legislation comes to pass and is enacted into law.”