BURSTSen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Tuesday defended hate speech protections under the Constitution but said he supports non-legal consequences for those celebrating the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“The First Amendment absolutely protects speech,” Cruz said at Politico’s AI & Tech Summit on Tuesday.
“It absolutely protects hate speech,” he continued. “It protects vile speech. It protects horrible speech. What does that mean? It means you cannot be prosecuted for speech, even if it is evil and bigoted and wrong.”
A heated debate over free speech protections has been stirred up in recent days by people justifying political violence in the wake of Kirk’s fatal shooting.
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday suggested hate speech was not protected under the law, saying on a podcast, “We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”
She later clarified those comments, saying on Tuesday, “Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It’s a crime.”
Cruz lamented the subset of the ideological left that has celebrated Kirk’s murder or suggested he deserved to die for his political views, but he advocated non-legal consequences for those individuals.
“We 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. “We've seen teachers in high schools and elementary schools posting online celebrating. We've seen university professors posting.”
“In my view, they should absolutely face the consequences for celebrating murder,” he added.
Cruz gave an example of a university student who dresses up in a Ku Klux Klan outfit, burns a cross and advocates for killing Black people.
“Under the First Amendment, you cannot be prosecuted for that, so you will not go to jail for doing that,” Cruz said. “But you know what? You absolutely can be expelled for that, and you should be.”
Cruz advocated for more “naming and shaming,” citing English philosopher John Stuart Mill, who said the best response to bad speech is more speech.
“And naming and shaming is part of a functioning and vibrant democracy," Cruz said.