No, the ACLU won’t, likely on the grounds that current hate crime law covers nearly everyone in the United States now so they’ll probably argue it’s not discriminatory:
- Race
- Color
- Religion
- National Origin
- Gender Identity (or perceived gender)
- Sexual Orientation
- Disability
The new legislation also added a provision that makes it a crime to attack someone who has been or is in the United States Military because of their service.
In theory, if a radical anarchist group attacked a Christian, female, straight, disabled woman because she was those things, they could be charged with four hate crimes.
**Now that virtually everything is covered, I don’t understand why it’s necessary - isn’t assault assault? Murder murder?** It seems like it’s largely unnecessary. From what I gather is if someone is attacked on the street for no reason, the punishment is less than if you targeted them for a specific reason. I’m not sure the logic makes a lot of sense ... random crime doesn’t hurt the victim any less than targeted crime, does it?
21 ‘‘§ 1389. Prohibition on attacks on United States serv22
icemen on account of service
23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever knowingly assaults or
24 batters a United States serviceman or an immediate family
25 member of a United States serviceman, or who knowingly
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† HR 2647 EAS
1 destroys or injures the property of such serviceman or im2
mediate family member, on account of the military service
3 of that serviceman or status of that individual as a United
4 States serviceman, or who attempts or conspires to do so,
5 shall—
6 ‘‘(1) in the case of a simple assault, or destruc7
tion or injury to property in which the damage or at8
tempted damage to such property is not more than
9 $500, be fined under this title in an amount not less
10 than $500 nor more than $10,000 and imprisoned not
11 more than 2 years;
12 ‘‘(2) in the case of destruction or injury to prop13
erty in which the damage or attempted damage to
14 such property is more than $500, be fined under this
15 title in an amount not less than $1000 nor more than
16 $100,000 and imprisoned not more than 5 years; and
17 ‘‘(3) in the case of a battery, or an assault re18
sulting in bodily injury, be fined under this title in
19 an amount not less than $2500 and imprisoned not
20 less than 6 months nor more than 10 years.
21 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTION.—This section shall not apply to con22
duct by a person who is subject to the Uniform Code of
23 Military Justice.