Attorney General Pam Bondi is not what you would call “subtle.” While Donald Trump was preparing to head off to Britain for a state visit, Bondi was busy trying to import one of that country’s worst ideas: the notion that “hate speech” is a real category of crime. It’s part of the administration’s move in the days since Charlie Kirk’s senseless assassination to use tragedy as a pretext for tightening the screws on civil liberties.

Bondi made her big blunder on Katie Miller’s podcast on Monday. Talking about antisemitism, Bondi said: “There’s free speech, and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society. We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.” Hours later, Bondi went on Fox News to declare that the Department of Justice was investigating businesses accused of refusing to print Charlie Kirk’s picture for vigils. “We can prosecute you for that,” she warned.

Bondi tried to walk back her remarks by posting that “hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment.” That statement was technically correct but beside the point because her original claim suggested the Department of Justice might go after mere offensive........

© The Hill