Yesterday, the California State Senate Committee on the Judiciary held its first hearing on “Combating Hate While Protecting the Constitution.” The Senate Committee heard testimony from constitutional scholar and dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, Erwin Chemerinsky, and from Joanna Mendelson with the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. Ben Shapiro, a conservative commenter and former editor at Breitbart, was invited to give testimony by the Republican members of the committee, but was not given a spot on the panel. Shapiro gave public comment instead.
You can read a recap of the hearing by Taryn Luna in the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert. You can also watch the full committee hearing on The California Channel. There will be a second hearing on this topic by the Senate Public Safety Committee on October 18.
Want to learn more? Check out our In Brief podcasts.