Columbia University officials testify before the House Education and Workforce Committee on the university's response to antisemitism on April 17, 2024. Although the legislation passed easily and with bipartisan support, the votes against it were also bipartisan: 21 Republicans and 70 Democrats voted no.
In a statement following passage, Lawler said the bill"is a key step in calling out antisemitism where it is and ensuring antisemitic hate crimes on college campuses are properly investigated and prosecuted." He added,"When people engage in harassment or bullying of Jewish individuals where they justify the killing of Jews or use blood libel or hold Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the Israeli government — that is antisemitic.
Meanwhile, Kenneth Stern, an attorney who helped write the definition in question, has expressed caution about relying on it for the purpose the bill intends. In 2016, when Congress was considering an earlier version of the bill, Sternthat the definition was designed to help governments collect antisemitism data and"was not drafted, and was never intended, as a tool to target or chill speech on a college campus.
"My best sense is that the Bible is sufficiently normatively ingrained in Western cultures, especially in the U.S., that no government actor would be at all likely to invoke the definition against any common usage of the Bible," Magarian told PolitiFact.It’s unclear how binding the bill would be. It is phrased as a"sense of Congress" legislation, which is language typically used for nonbinding, advisory legislation.
Ilya Somin, George Mason University law professor, said the bill’s ultimate impact may be less sweeping than some of its critics suggest, because former then-resident Donald Trump incorporated the definition into Title VI by executive order and Biden kept that policy in place.
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