Barbara McQuade, Columnist

What Pam Bondi Gets Wrong About ‘Hate Speech’

The attorney general’s crackdown shows a lack of understanding of the First Amendment and a willingness to twist it for politics.

September 19, 2025 at 11:00 AM UTC

By Barbara McQuade

Barbara McQuade is a professor at the University of Michigan Law school, a former US attorney and author of "Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America."

Sorry, but even hate speech is protected.
Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images

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What is the federal offense of “hate speech”?

It’s a good question because there is no such offense. That didn’t stop US Attorney General Pam Bondi from threatening to use the authority of her office to combat it. “We will absolutely target you, go after you,” she said, “if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”