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Can you please tell me what those "specific legal meanings" of hate groups are, or at least direct me to where I can find such information?

Although this document is from Santa Clara, it specifies the CA statutes against "hate crimes." And I've been looking for the specific term "hate groups" in statutes, but haven't been able to find them, although the CA AG does specifically mention "violent groups," which it would seem could fall under the definition of "hate groups." Interesting how what appears to be a "legal term" really isn't one, although you see politicians and law enforcement refer to it all the time, such as in this document on the CA AG site.

So if President Bush stands on a podium with the seal of the United States in front of him and says that the KKK (or the NAACP, or the Daughters of the American Revolution, or the Democratic Party, or FreeRepublic) is a hate group, they can sue him for libel?

Yes, I believe that they can, if they can prove that they are NOT a "hate group." Specific cases that come to mind when a government or law enforcement agency include Richard Jewell (from the Olympic bombing) and what's going to happen with Stephen Hatfil (sp?), the "person of interest" in the anthrax cases. They were both identified as suspect, were defamed, and when it was proven that Jewel was NOT the bomber, he sued and won.

However, I'm starting to wonder if there's a case against the government. I know that Jewell sued NBC and The AJC, but I can't find anything if he filed suit against the government and won. I could have sworn that he did, but I can't find proof.

Mark

I appreciate your effort to take me up on my challenge and document laws involving hate crimes and libel. As you have found, there can be a huge gulf between what is commonly thought and what is an actual legal term. "Hate crimes," for instance, are regular old crimes (assault, arson, theft, harassment, etc.), for which the motivation is alleged to be hate because of the victim's race, religion, gender, etc. In the main, it is not a matter of adding new crimes to the books, but of adding greater punishments for existing crimes. And "hate groups" is unlikely to be a legal term at all, because the same first amendment that protects our right to call them that protects their right to say things that are, in fact, hateful.

As for Hatfill, I'm pretty sure that libel is not what he is suing the government for, but rather that his constitutional right to privacy (!) has been violated by what the Justice Department has done. And Jewell, if I remember correctly, sued several media outlets for libel, but not the government. I believe some places settled with him early (NBC did so even before being named in a suit), while his suit against the AJC is still ongoing (Jewell has actually lost several rounds so far, but continues the appeal process).