Justin Amash Profile picture
Feb 27, 2020 13 tweets 3 min read Read on X
#HR35 bans activities that are already illegal under federal law, and it’s based on the unconstitutional federalization of criminal punishment, which is a threat to civil liberties and civil rights—particularly for people of color.
To be clear, the bill does not make lynching a new federal hate crime. Murdering someone on account of their race, or conspiring to do so, is not legal under federal law. It’s already a federal crime, and it’s already a hate crime.
#HR35 criminalizes conspiracies to violate various federal criminal laws, including many that are unrelated to lynching. But it’s already illegal to conspire to commit any federal crime, so the acts this bill covers are already criminal.
The bill’s main effect is to make these conspiracies punishable to the same extent (or greater) as the underlying crimes, some of which are punishable by death. We should abolish the death penalty, not expand it to more crimes.
Setting aside that the bill doesn’t create new criminality, the conspiracies under the bill cover many crimes that the Constitution leaves to the states, not the federal government.
This federalization of criminal law has serious unintended consequences that put everyone’s rights at risk.
The Constitution lets Congress criminalize only a few enumerated activities, each of which has a federal nexus; all other crimes are left to the states because the Framers recognized the dangers of federalizing criminal law, especially the threat to individual rights.
Creating federal crimes for matters that are normally handled by the state obscures which government—federal or state—is responsible for investigating and prosecuting the crime, and it gives power to unelected federal officials whom voters can’t directly hold accountable.
This allows state officials who don’t adequately address particular crimes to shift blame and avoid accountability. At the same time, it creates an incentive for budget-constrained state and local governments not to prosecute crimes and instead leave it to the feds.
This undermines states’ experimentation with different approaches to criminal justice, uses up the resources available for actual federal issues, and encourages the expansion of the federal police force, which is not nearly as accountable to the people as are local police.
Federalizing crime also creates the possibility that a person may be charged in both state court and federal court for essentially the same crime—a form of double jeopardy, which is a due process violation.
We invite all these problems by criminalizing conspiracies under federal law for activities that largely deal with state-level issues.
It’s even more concerning here because the bill is framed as a protection for people of color, yet it is the rights of people of color that have been disproportionately violated by our massive and unaccountable criminal justice system.

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More from @justinamash

Jan 3, 2023
I’m not a current member of Congress, but I do know what’s at stake. I’d gladly serve as speaker of the House for one term to show people the kind of legislative body we can have if someone at the top actually cares about involving every representative in the work of legislating.
Though he’s had trouble securing universal Republican support, the leading contender for speaker of the House remains Kevin McCarthy, which is sad. Even the people pledging to vote for him know that he’s totally unqualified and unfit to be speaker.
While McCarthy’s awful voting record tells you a lot about his philosophy, critical to the role of speaker is a particular aspect of a person’s philosophy that isn’t always apparent from votes: the person’s commitment to a deliberative legislative process.
Read 25 tweets
Jun 10, 2022
Several states demanded amendments to the Constitution to protect individual rights, so the Bill of Rights was proposed as a compromise to keep the Union intact. Ratifying the Second Amendment strengthened the arguments made by James Madison in Federalist No. 46:
“The only refuge left for those who prophesy the downfall of the State governments is the visionary supposition that the federal government may previously accumulate a military force for the projects of ambition.…
“…The reasonings contained in these papers must have been employed to little purpose indeed, if it could be necessary now to disprove the reality of this danger.…
Read 19 tweets
Apr 27, 2022
Here’s why I don’t get the angst over @elonmusk and @Twitter: Almost everyone recognizes that Twitter is increasingly dysfunctional. Much of the dysfunction stems from the company’s choice to prioritize engagement over open discourse. This also drives factionalism and extremism.
Musk can do what a public company can’t: risk profits to restore the original spirit of Twitter. The current algorithm invites audience capture, which causes most of the strain here. The problem is systemic. You can’t ban enough accounts to fix it. The system creates antagonism.
In many ways, it reminds me of the dysfunction of recent Congresses. Congressional leaders have adopted a system that prohibits broad legislative participation, prioritizing election wins over representation. This design produces performance artists instead of legislators.
Read 6 tweets
Sep 1, 2021
You can’t simply decouple the decision to withdraw from the expected outcome of a withdrawal. The primary argument for staying in Afghanistan has always been that any departure would be dangerous for Americans and Afghans alike, which is why this f***ing war has lasted 20 years.
Every exit was going to look ugly. Waiting for ideal conditions—ease of transit and probable safety for all, including Afghans—means waiting forever, never leaving. A president committed to leaving must be willing to move forward despite the likely calamitous short-run outcomes.
Biden deserves criticism. He made plenty of errors and was way too confident. But it’s not at all clear the exit would have been better with a different approach or timing. And I say that as someone who thinks he waited far too long to evacuate Americans and our Afghan partners.
Read 4 tweets
Jun 16, 2021
As Libertarians, we champion due process. There’s only one legitimate executive committee of @LPNH, and that’s the one elected in March.
With that said, we need more professionalism and accountability from state affiliates. Official social media accounts are for advancing the party’s mission of organizing libertarians, not for personal experiments in edgelording.
But horrible messaging can’t amount to a “constructive resignation” of officers. If the party has serious issues with an affiliate, then changes need to be made through proper channels, not by unilateral decree.
Read 4 tweets
Feb 4, 2021
There’s a general misunderstanding of how House committee assignments work. The entire House votes to put each and every member on the particular committees. Though this typically happens via a voice vote (not roll call), it’s done through a normal resolution passed on the floor.
In other words, a committee assignment is not literally decided just by your own party. The whole House must approve it.
To put this in context, Rep. Greene was assigned to her committees via this resolution, which was approved by all Republicans and Democrats. congress.gov/bill/117th-con…
Read 5 tweets

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