00:00Ted Cruz says First Amendment absolutely protects hate speech.
00:04Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, made it clear that hate speech remains protected under the First Amendment,
00:11even as he called for consequences short of prosecution for those who publicly celebrated the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
00:19His comments, delivered at Politico's AI and Tech Summit, highlight a sharp divide between his stance and recent remarks from the Trump administration.
00:26The First Amendment absolutely protects speech, Cruz said.
00:31It absolutely protects hate speech.
00:34It protects vile speech.
00:35It protects horrible speech.
00:37It means you cannot be prosecuted for speech, even if it is evil and bigoted and wrong.
00:43Cruz emphasized that while the law shields such speech from criminal charges, it does not prevent other repercussions.
00:49He argued that individuals who praised Kirk's murder or suggested he deserved death for his political views
00:54should face accountability through measures like job termination or expulsion from institutions.
01:00We have seen, as you noted, across the country, people on the left, not everybody, but far too many people celebrating Charlie Kirk's murder, Cruz said.
01:09In my view, they should absolutely face the consequences for celebrating murder.
01:14His remarks followed Attorney General Pam Bondi's comments a day earlier.
01:18She said the Justice Department would move against individuals engaging in hate speech after Charlie Kirk's assassination.
01:25There's free speech and then there's hate speech.
01:28And there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie in our society, for hate speech.
01:34We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech,
01:40Bondi said on a podcast hosted by Katie Miller, the wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
01:45Bondi later clarified on X that only speech crossing into threats of violence falls outside First Amendment protections.
01:53It's a crime.
01:54She accused the radical left of normalizing such rhetoric.
01:57Free speech protects ideas, debate, even dissent.
02:01But it does not and will never protect violence, she wrote.
02:04Trump, asked about her remarks, went further, suggesting journalists who treat me unfairly could also be targeted, calling it hate.
02:12Kirk, who was killed during an event at Utah Valley University on September 10th, had argued against criminalizing hate speech, writing on X last year.
02:22There's ugly, gross, evil speech.
02:24And all of it is protected by the First Amendment.
02:28In closing, Cruz cited John Stuart Mill, stressing that open rebuttal and naming and shaming are vital to a vibrant democracy.
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