Oh, for God’s sake. This is not only ridiculous and against the law, but it is also precisely what we have been fighting against for the past several years.
This is extremely concerning. The distinction is not between “free speech” and “hate speech,” but between “free speech” and “organizing illicit activities, engaging in political violence, depriving others of their civil rights, and committing tax or nonprofit fraud.” https://t.co/inFNF3prAa
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) September 16, 2025
Ed wrote about this earlier today, and I wholeheartedly agree and want to jump on the bandwagon of conservatives who are pushing back on the government getting involved in suppressing what is clearly protected speech, and to reiterate my (perhaps too nuanced?) argument that we should distinguish between people in positions of responsibility expressing support for political violence and random jerks doing the same.
The former I fully support drumming out of their professions because they have the power to destroy people; the latter are just nasty people whose friends and neighbors should chastise. Doctors, lawyers, judges, teachers, and political figures have a stamp of approval from elite institutions and the state as exemplars for others to follow, and doctors literally hold lives in their hands.
Your delivery guy who spouts off is just an ass.
This is a total schizo self-own by Pam Bondi.
After all that effort in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado to allow business owners the right to refuse certain services based on the First Amendment claims of free speech and free exercise of religion (and therefore be granted an… https://t.co/OhHDYWlEMT
— Melissa Chen (@MsMelChen) September 16, 2025
After all that effort in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado to allow business owners the right to refuse certain services based on the First Amendment claims of free speech and free exercise of religion (and therefore be granted an exemption from laws ensuring non-discrimination in public accommodations), Pam Bondi now wants to reverse it.
If you don’t want Christian bakers to be coerced into making custom wedding cakes for gays, you can’t compel employees of Office Depot to print posters they don’t want to based on their beliefs.
Let Office Depot deal with their employees the way they see fit. Surely they’ve violated employee codes by refusing service. Government should stay out of it.
I’m glad to see Republicans overwhelmingly criticize Bondi over this.
Whatever you think of private companies policing their workers’ speech, the government is specifically prohibited from doing so except in very limited circumstances. Incitement to violence is a legal category, and merely saying Charlie Kirk should be killed does not cross the line. Encouraging people to do it at a specific time and place does.
In Rankin v. McPherson, the Supreme Court ruled that a woman was exercising her free speech rights when she said she hoped someone assassinated Reagan. It’s a terrible thing to say, but terrible things are typically protected by the First Amendment, because that’s how this works.
— Billy Binion (@billybinion) September 16, 2025
“Hate speech” as a legal term was basically invented out of thin air. You and I can characterize somebody’s speech as hateful and use social opprobrium to discourage it, but the government cannot.
Speaker Mike Johnson responds to question about AG Bondi’s “hate speech” comments: “In America, it’s a very important part of our tradition that we do not censor and silence disfavored viewpoints. People in America are allowed to say crazy things. That said, if I’m an employer or… pic.twitter.com/3o4An8XV8f
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) September 16, 2025
Speaker Mike Johnson responds to question about AG Bondi’s “hate speech” comments: “In America, it’s a very important part of our tradition that we do not censor and silence disfavored viewpoints. People in America are allowed to say crazy things. That said, if I’m an employer or a government agency and I have someone online who is online celebrating the heinous murder of an innocent young husband and father, I can make the decision that they don’t deserve to work for me. They shouldn’t represent my company or my agency. And I have every right to do that and I think that’s appropriate. That’s personal behavior and decorum and you have a right to enforce that.”
We have been having a discussion/debate here at Hot Air in our group chat about where to draw the line on the use of social opprobrium–just when or if it is right to use punishment and not just criticism to push back against hateful speech. I believe that the line is drawn between people in authority and those who are not; others here are more libertarian on the issue and say that speech outside of work contexts should be off limits for punishment all the time.
Charlie Kirk literally died defending the principle that Pam Bondi is trashing. Just unreal. https://t.co/Ui5ENDMT4J pic.twitter.com/p8rXUnzpu0
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) September 16, 2025
It’s a worthy debate, and we are likely to do just such a debate in the coming days for the benefit of our readers. Drop a comment below if you want to see us duke it out on what constitutes “cancel culture.” All of us have very strong opinions on the issue. Also, The Free Press has essays on the issue from multiple perspectives. Thank God, Bari Weiss resigned from The New York Times. The Free Press is a gem.
Get rid of her. Today. This is insane. Conservatives have fought for decades for the right to refuse service to anyone. We won that fight. Now Pam Bondi wants to roll it all back for no reason. The employee who didn’t print the flyer was already fired by his employer. This stuff… https://t.co/Ry7PEUz1ca
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 16, 2025
The employee who didn’t print the flyer was already fired by his employer. This stuff is being handled successfully through free speech and free markets. This is totally gratuitous and pointless. We need the AG focused on bringing down the left wing terror cells, not prosecuting Office Depot for God’s sake.
But we all agree that the government should have no role in punishing people for what they say, although I do believe that it can, as an employer, fire people who advocate for violence, especially from a position of power, such as a teacher.
Bondi: If you want to go and print posters with Charlie’s picture for a vigil, you have to let them do that. We can prosecute you for that. We have right now our civil rights unit looking at that. pic.twitter.com/GugF4PsGwZ
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 16, 2025
Pam Bondi, who has been disappointing in other ways as well (ahem, Epstein, ahem), is going WAY too far. Short of actual incitement to violence or terrorism–clearly and at a present moment–or engaging in a conspiracy to commit violence, the government should stay out of speech issues.
Me every time Pam Bondi speaks pic.twitter.com/T2jgZT4Gb4
— The Drunk Republican (@DrunkRepub) September 16, 2025
Period. We are not Europe. We are not Great Britain.
We are America, land of the free, including freedom to be a total arsehole.
Bondi has to go. She is not up to the job.
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