Feelings are running high in the Trump administration after the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, so, understandably, officeholders such as Attorney General Pam Bondi want to do everything they can to ensure such an assassination never happens again. But her recent comments on imminent action against hate speech, threats of violence, and civil rights have no foundation in law and should be rejected by the White House.

“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,” Bondi said in a podcast with Katie Miller, wife of White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller. When asked by Katie Miller if we will see “handcuffs” on “groups who are using hate speech,” Bondi said, “We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”