October 22, 2009 5:26PM # One Nation Under Double Jeopardy By [David Rittgers](https://www.cato.org/people/david-rittgers) --- SHARE The Senate [is about to vote](http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/22/hate.crimes/) on Defense Department funding with an expanded federal “hate crimes” bill. This well-intentioned piece of legislation threatens to make violations of the fundamental right against Double Jeopardy a routine practice, as federal courts will now have the power to re-prosecute defendants for what are traditionally state crimes. The House removed language that the Senate put in place to ensure that the “hate crimes” provisions did not stretch to encompass free speech, threatening to attach criminal liability to core rights of free expression. This expansion of federal jurisdiction guarantees that high profile cases will be retried until a guilty verdict is obtained to satisfy political factions. This politicization of justice will only harm our courts and our freedoms. The Senate should vote down this threat to the fundamental rights of all Americans. Now for some quick background reading: - “[Welcome to the new age of Double Jeopardy](http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjkzNGQ2YzBiN2ZjMjkxOTM4MTUyMDhhN2RhYjA2OTQ=).” - [Why hate-crime legislation won’t work. ](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10346) - Podcast: [How hate-crime legislation undermines federalism.](https://www.cato.org/2009/07/01/hate-crime-legislation-a-shocking-disregard-for-federalism/) ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).