On Thursday, Democrat Stacey Plaskett (Virgin Islands), ranking member of the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Federal Government, attacked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as he testified during a hearing, saying that free speech does not protect speech she deems as “vile.”
Plaskett’s comments came in response to Kennedy warning about the effect the opposition to free speech hurts working Americans.
“These folks have a plan,” Plaskett said of Republicans, even though Kennedy is a Democrat. “They want to give expression to the most vile sorts of speech here in this committee room because it prepares the ground for their own conspiracy theories and pseudoscience.”
“Many of my Republican colleagues across the dais will rush to cover that they have Mr. Kennedy here because they want to protect his free speech,” she said. “This is not the kind of free speech that I know of.”
“Free speech is not an absolute. The Supreme Court has stated that,” she falsely claimed. “And others’ free speech that is allowed—hateful, abusive rhetoric—does not need to be promoted in the halls of the people’s house.”
