Orrin Hatch: “it remains my view that S. 625 is a misguided invasion into an area historically and constitutionally reserved to State…”

“it remains my view that S. 625 is a misguided invasion into an area historically and constitutionally reserved to State and local law enforcement authorities. But let me say now S. 625 is also flawed on its own merits. One of S. 625's most egregious shortcomings is that while it purports to send a message the Federal Government is going to be tough on hate crimes, it actually threatens to weaken the punishment currently available under many State laws for the perpetrators of violent hate crimes. In the successful State and local prosecutions of the killers of James Byrd, Matthew Shepard, and Billy Jack Gaither, prosecutors and law enforcement officials in Texas, Wyoming, and Alabama were able to consider seeking the death penalty. So they did. Let's pause to consider why they did so. James Byrd, who was African American, was beaten unconscious, chained to the back of a pickup truck, and dragged 4 miles down rural roads by men who had links to a white supremacist group. Billy Jack Gaither, who was gay, was bludgeoned with an axe handle, had his throat slit, and then was thrown on a pile of tires and set on fire by men who cited Gaither's sexual orientation as their motivation for the killing. Matthew Shepard, who was gay, was kidnapped, beaten so severely that his skull was fractured a half dozen times, tied to a fencepost, and left to die by two men who hated homosexuals.”