-Source-The New York Times-
-Quote of the Day-
"Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted."
- Aldous Huxley
On June 11th 1993 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people who commit "hate crimes" could be sentenced to extra punishment. The Supreme Court gave its approval today to a new approach to punishing hate crimes, ruling unanimously that states may impose harsher sentences on criminals who choose their victims on the basis of race, religion or other personal characteristics.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's opinion for the Court upheld a Wisconsin state law that is similar to sentence-enhancement laws now on the books in more than half the states. In an unusual show of state unanimity, the 49 other states filed a joint brief in support of the Wisconsin law. With a similar Federal measure now under consideration in Congress, the Clinton Administration also filed a brief in support of the Wisconsin law.
Succinctly and definitively, Chief Justice Rehnquist's opinion swept away the constitutional doubt that had surrounded the hate-crime issue for the past year. [ Excerpts from the decision, page 8. ] Last June, the Court struck down a St. Paul ordinance that made certain expressions of racial and religious hatred into crimes.