Senate Unanimously Passes Anti-Lynching Bill Inspired by Jussie Smollett Hate Hoax

.@JussieSmollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I’m praying for his quick recovery.

This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate.

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 29, 2019

The Senate unanimously passed a bill on Monday that criminalizes lynching and make it punishable by up to 30 years in prison. It sailed through the House of Representatives last month, and President Biden is expected to sign it.

While it eased through both chambers of Congress this time with virtually no opposition, the path to passage took more than 100 years and 200 failed attempts.

Under the bill, named the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act after the 14-year-old boy from Chicago who was lynched while visiting family in Mississippi, a crime can be prosecuted as a lynching when a hate crime results in a death or injury, said Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., a longtime sponsor of the legislation.

"Lynching is a longstanding and uniquely American weapon of racial terror that has for decades been used to maintain the white hierarchy," Rush said in a statement Monday evening. "Unanimous Senate passage of the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act sends a clear and emphatic message that our nation will no longer ignore this shameful chapter of our history and that the full force of the U.S. federal government will always be brought to bear against those who commit this heinous act."

Unanimous consent in the Senate allows a bill to pass without a roll call, so long as there's no senator present to object.

Tonight the Senate passed my anti-lynching legislation, taking a necessary and long-overdue step toward a more unified and just America.

After working on this issue for years, I am glad to have partnered with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to finally get this done.

— Tim Scott (@SenatorTimScott) March 8, 2022

"Tonight the Senate passed my anti-lynching legislation, taking a necessary and long-overdue step toward a more unified and just America," Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., wrote on Twitter. "After working on this issue for years, I am glad to have partnered with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to finally get this done."

Other co-sponsors of the Senate bill were Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Paul objected to a similar bill that passed the House in 2020. At the time, he said the measure was too broad.

By Monday night, he was satisfied with the bill's language, "which will ensure that federal law will define lynching as the absolutely heinous crime that it is," he said.