Paul says he'll back Emmett Till Antilynching Act
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who held up popular bipartisan antilynching legislation in the Senate last Congress, announced Tuesday that he now supports and has signed on as a co-sponsor of a new version of the bill.
The updated version of the legislation — known as the Emmett Till Antilynching Act of 2022 — was introduced in the Senate this week by Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey.
The Senate bill is identical to companion legislation introduced by Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush of Illinois that the House passed on Monday.
Since the House has already passed the measure, once the Senate takes up and passes the bill, it will be sent to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. Paul's support for the new version of the bill will likely pave the way for its passage in the Senate. Senate Democratic leadership hopes to pass the legislation soon by unanimous consent, but the timing is still uncertain.
The Emmett Till Antilynching Act of 2022 would designate lynching as a federal hate crime under existing statues and is co-sponsored by Paul and the Senate's three Black senators Booker; Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina; and Raphael Warnock, Democrat of Georgia.
The legislation is named in honor of 14-year-old Emmett Till, who was brutally murdered in a racist attack in Mississippi in 1955, an event that drew national attention to the atrocities and violence that African Americans faced in the U.S.
Paul previously held up an earlier version of the bill, arguing in 2020 that he wanted it “to be stronger.”
In a statement on Tuesday in which he urged swift passage of the updated legislation, Paul said, “Strengthening the language of this bill has been my goal all along, and I'm pleased to have worked with Senators Cory Booker and Tim Scott to get this right.”