Like many, I have been highly critical of the statements made by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) accusing Israel of bombing the hospital in Gaza and other inflammatory comments. However, I also opposed the effort to censure Tlaib on free speech grounds. I was impressed by the comments of Speaker Mike Johnson on the measure and the 23 GOP members who took the unpopular step of voting against the measure even though they disagreed with her viewpoints.
The 23 Republicans joined all House Democrats in a 222-186 vote to block the disciplinary measure pushed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for her criticism of Israel after Hamas launched a deadly attack against the country last month.
The resolution adopted the same type of ambiguous and overly broad definition of insurrection used by Democrats against Republicans. Green’s resolution accused Tlaib “antisemitic activity, sympathizing with terrorist organizations and leading an insurrection” at a House office building.
Tlaib has spread what many would declare “disinformation.” However, that rationale has been used extensively by many to censor and ban opposing views on social media and in academia. It should not be used to censor elected representatives in Congress. Clearly, this carries no real penalties and the House has every right to speak as an institution. However, as Speaker Johnson noted, it leads to endless measures. It also creates a growing expectation that every position deemed offensive or false should be subject to institutional action.
In an appearance with Fox Host Sean Hannity last night with other GOP members, Johnson explained that he opposed such measures in the interests of free speech. He noted that members say controversial things “all the time” and that it is a slippery slope to use such disciplinary measures in a tit-for-tat pattern.
I have previously raised concerns over the threats to free speech in this period of great tension in Congress and on our campuses. I have denounced Hamas as a terrorist organization, but the solution is not to curtail free speech rights on our campuses.
That is not true about conduct like tearing down posters and threatening others. Recently, Harvard students (including Ibrahim Bharmal who is an editor of the Harvard Law Review) was implicated in a disturbing incident involving Jewish protesters who were shoved and pursued on campus. At Cornell, a student, Patrick Dai, was arrested after threatening Jewish students.
Our campuses and our Congress have a shared value as forums for the expression of political viewpoints. They serve as important spaces for the exchange of opposing views, including some views that may enrage or insult many of us. Yet, if we are to find any resolution of these issues, it will be through the use of free speech, not through its denial.
I’ve never met a democrat that disliked a roll-over, milquetoast republican. Not. One.
Well this is surprising: funded Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), Left leaning group within the Democrat Party
The text of the resolution was tame. In another era she would have been tarred and feathered
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-resolution/807/text
18th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 807
Censuring Representative Rashida Tlaib for antisemitic activity, sympathizing with terrorist organizations, and leading an insurrection at the United States Capitol Complex.
Whereas in May 2019, Rashida Tlaib said that she celebrated the Holocaust, and felt a “calming feeling” when thinking about the genocide of millions of Jews;
Whereas in 2020, Rashida Tlaib retweeted an illustration with the caption, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, and this Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) slogan has been adopted by Hamas and calls for the elimination of Israel and the death of all Jews;
Whereas in September 2022, Rashida Tlaib, as a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, displayed her disdain for Israel, saying, “You cannot claim to hold progressive values yet back Israel’s apartheid government.”;
Whereas instead of denouncing the horrors of Hamas slaughtering Israelis and demanding the release of all hostages held by Hamas, Rashida Tlaib stated on October 8, 2023, “The path to the future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance.”;
Whereas Rashida Tlaib exhibited her hatred for America by reposting a message on October 12, 2023, blaming America for allowing the deaths of Palestinian babies at the hands of Israel;
Whereas Rashida Tlaib led an insurrection at the United States Capitol Complex on October 18, 2023, which put Members of Congress, their staffs, and Capitol visitors in danger by shutting down elevators, stairwells, and points of egress, while obstructing official business in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, including a Senate Foreign Affairs Committee hearing;
Whereas the insurrection led by Rashida Tlaib was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, which the Anti-Defamation League calls “a radical anti-Israel activist group that advocates for a complete economic, cultural and academic boycott of the state of Israel”, and that believes “Israeli policies and actions are motivated by deeply rooted Jewish racial chauvinism and religious supremacism.”;
Whereas members of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a far-left nonprofit organization, were present at the insurrection at the Capitol on October 18, 2023;
Whereas several insurrectionists at the Capitol belong to a group messaging chat called, “Global Intifada”, which is the Arabic word for “rebellion” or “uprising”, and refers to a series of protests and violent riots carried out by Palestinians in Israel during the last century;
Whereas by leading an anti-American and antisemitic insurrection on October 18, 2023, Rashida Tlaib followed Hezbollah’s orders to carry out a “day of unprecedented anger” following an explosion at a Gazan hospital, lying about Israel’s responsibility for the attack, which United States intelligence agencies said was not perpetrated by Israel; and
Whereas Members of Congress who denounce the United States while praising terrorist organizations are unfit to hold office: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That—
(1) Representative Rashida Tlaib be censured;
(2) Representative Rashida Tlaib forthwith present herself in the well of the House of Representatives for the pronouncement of censure;
(3) Representative Rashida Tlaib be censured with the public reading of this resolution by the Speaker; and
(4) the House of Representatives condemns support for terrorist organizations.
Unfortunate that a member of the Asian community found his way on to this ship of fools. Though hopefully an outlier, it would have been far more positive a benefit had he not.
Idiot Turley.
Idiot GOP Representatives.
This is NOT a free speech case.
Exceptions to First Amendment protections include incitement, defamation, fighting words, and threats. I believe, as do most clear thinking Americans and Israeli’s, Rep. Tlaib’s comments clearly fall in all four of these exceptions. She is inciting worldwide violence against the Jewish people and their supporters for propagating a clearly false narrative about the explosion in the Al Ahli Hospital parking lot. She has defamed Israel and its American supporters with her lies. And much of her ranting can easily be construed as fighting words and threats.
Therefore, Rep. Tlaib MUST be expelled from Congress.
23 Republicans (RINO’S) are an EMBARRASSMENT AND SHOULD BE REPLACED BY MAGA REPUBLICANS!
Idiot keyboard cowboy hiding in anonymity.
The censure resolution falsely accused Tlaib of organising an “insurrection,” just as Democrats falsely accused Trump of instigating one. That’s why Chip Roy and others voted against it. So far as I can tell, the resolution did not highlight her lies about the hospital bombing.
I find Mike Johnson impressive, but he did not vote against censure. Does anyone know how he voted?
Daniel: Tlaib did NOT organize an insurrection, but DJT DID–he went on an extensive “Stop the Steal” campaign, lying to his fans by claiming that his “victory” was “stolen by fraud”, when he DID know better. Time has proven that the Big Lie was just that–there’s still NO evidence that Trump even could have won–the minor irregularies couldn’t possibly have provided him with victory, and all the claims about dead voters, vote switching, votes being discarded and the other lies are all untrue. He lost, just like all polls predicted. He told his fans to come to Washington on Jan 6th to “fight like hell or you’re not going to have a country any more”. Nothing Rep. Tlaib did even comes close. He tried to bully Mike Pence into refusing certified votes, and tried to bully Secretaries of State to falsify voting records. Nothing Rep. Tlaib did even comes close.
Free speech must survive. It’s better to know where someone like Rep. Talib stands than force her underground. Only by allowing the most reprehensible speech do we assure rational people can speak.
@Dan Richardson: …..it is far more critical to comprehend the significance of the support she is receiving from her constituency as are others of her ilk. Their allegiances will always be from whence they came, not to where they’ve gone. It is with this lot that an existential threat to the principles upon which this nation was founded exists.
I agree with the Professor. We do have free speech and that includes congresswomen. I despise her comments but she has the right to say them and Majorie Taylor Green should have attacked those statements on the Floor of the House and pointedly refuted them point by point as any true Parliamentarian would do. In fact ridicule would have been even better but let’s face it, astute and biting speech is not MTG’s strong point so she resorts to censure. As a conservative republican and believer in the constitution I can have have no other position on free speech. Actions are different.
Please don’t compare Speaker Johnson to Nancy Pelosi, thats like comparing Beowulf to Grendel (or the Sea Hag) Normally I reserve the Sea Hag moniker for HRC but Nancy Pelosi runs a very close second.
GEB,
Well said.
Great Beowulf reference.
@GEB
It does include congresswomen, but she openly, blatantly lied. After the facts were readily available. She absolutely did stir passions based on what she knew were falsehoods. This is not new for her and her cohort, not at all. Is de rigueur at this point. There was a public tearing up of a speech that met the same criteria, why on earth do some folks think this is any different? These things do not happen in isolation. Do not consider this a victory for free speech, because the people in question simply do not care. And if the poles were reversed, she would have happily done her best to send her opponent to prison if she could. Do not make the mistake of thinking we are dealing with fairness or rationality in the 21st century, because we aren’t. This was not about the flag she chooses to fly, it’s about what she said and did in support of that, and no member of our Congress should be allowed to so mislead when the evidence is demonstrably against them.
At some point you all are going to have to wake up and realize that the old rules no longer apply, because the forces we are talking about do not care and they will not relent. Decorum by the speaker is nice, but the time for nice is likely over, and it is 100% the modern left that has brought us to this point. Anyone who thinks speech ripping or interrupting business was a fad needs to wake up. She absolutely deserved to be censured, and if the ‘squad’ are reelected, which I suspect they will be, perhaps some of us will finally get it. The modern dem party is a regime, not a party, they have endless resources, and they will not ever stop. Slaps on the wrist will accomplish exactly zero, because they never think they are wrong. Taking away their power is the only thing that will work, and even that is tenuous with the likes of Soros in the mix. This was not a bipartisan victory, it was a troubling sign of exactly where we are, and it is looking like it is leading somewhere even worse. Do you really have to have thugs literally smash in your door for you all to get it (incidentally, this happened to both my parents and me and my wife)? Because eventually, they will.
One may have a pass on lying in the well of the House, protected by the Speech and Debate Clause. Deliberate propagation of the lie, regarding the source of the bombing in the area of the Gaza hospital, in order to exhort support for the butchers whose cause she is clearly in sympathy with, warranted more than the slap on the wrist the “No Vote”, provided. For the good and welfare of this republic it is far more critical to comprehend the significance of the support she is receiving from her constituency as are others of her ilk. Their allegiances will always be from whence they came, not to where they’ve gone. It is with this lot that an existential threat to the principles upon which this nation was founded exists.
Members of Congress are the luckiest most privileged Americans of any group. Is it too much to ask, to require these privileged American representatives – politicians of both parties – to find “bridges” between voters instead of pitting one group of voters against another group. This has literally led to violence and death.
Voters of both will never agree on every issue, but should any member of Congress be allowed to demonize the speaker instead of debating the issue?
Members of Congress receive taxpayer financed salaries, taxpayer financed healthcare (better than most of us paying for it) and other privileges that the voters don’t receive.
Is it too much to ask for “Grownups” in Congress that can debate issues like adults and out the nation’s interest first? We are paying for this.
I think that Rashida Tlaib is arguably the most Anti-American hater in Congress. We should all set up a Go-Fund-Me page so she can go to Gaza and represent her Hamas Caucus. That said however, I think the Speaker Mike Johnson is correct on this one. Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article.
It was a missed opportunity, so typical of Republicans.
Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) was censured under Pelosi’s House for tweeting a cartoon of AOC getting stabbed. Thank Maxine Waters for that. Yet, when Tlaib characterizes Israelis as colonizers who merit the Oct 7 atrocity by occupants of Gaza/West Bank, and her BFF in the Hamas continue to warn they will do it again and again and again, Tlaib should not be censured. She should be expelled. She was born in the US so she can stay in America for now unless if evidence materializes that she contributed one red cent to Hamas. OTOH, Biden’s administration did just that so perhaps he should be expelled from the USA
Washington Post, Nov 18, 2021 on the censuring of Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.):
When the House votes to censure one of its members, the member has to stand in the well of the House and listen to the House speaker read aloud the censure resolution. The move is, in a way, a form of public humiliation, meant to scold a member for their behavior and put it in the public record. Gosar also was stripped of his two committee assignments as a separate punishment.
Censure, which is defined in Sections 22 and 23 of the House’s rules, is often reserved for “more serious violations” of House behavior codes in situations when a member’s actions aren’t severe enough to merit expulsion from the House.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/what-is-censure-congress-/2021/11/18/20245326-4889-11ec-b8d9-232f4afe4d9b_story.html
Even if she were to be caught giving Hamas money or other material support, she could be imprisoned but she could not be expelled from the USA. Citizens can’t be expelled, ever. And US citizenship, once validly obtained by birth in the USA or by naturalization, can’t be revoked.
“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour”
Steve King might have some thoughts on this.
Free speech is fine.
We cannot ignore the facts. Democrats write the rules of war for infighting of Congress Critters. Democrats ALWAYS stick together to censure Republicans. So use the same Rules Democrats use all the time against Republlcans.
Strange the left is fine with Judicial speech restrictions against Trump’s campaign. Silencing of campaign speech, vs Tlaib endorsing Hamas placing live infants in a kitchen oven and forcing the mother watch and listen as her baby is cooked to death. Tlaib, like lots of radical, extremists Muslims, are sub human life forms.
After Tliabs’s exhortations in Washington have gone unpunished I would think Trump has one more defense/example to use towards any charges of inciting ‘insurrection’.
and what about the January 6th Entrapment and agent provocateur? Which is as plain as the nose on your face!!!
Or the BLM matter Conspiracy to RIOT against America?
Or the Russian Hoax Treason?
etc
The support from Republicans committed to Israel is especially noteworthy, since its clear that for many of the Democrats based on their historic comments, including Rep Tlaib herself, this was not an issue of free speech but a partisan vote. One wonders if the vote would have been dramatically different if the motion came from a Democrat.
of course they do…30% of “republicans” are Democrat RINOs.
Real Republicans need to NAME NAMES!
The USA is imploding
I’m not sure I understand your beef. Isn’t censure itself just speech?
I don’t disagree if the issue is “controversial comments.” However, if there was evidence she had a role in organizing the sit in of the Capitol, perhaps getting the group in, knowing they had such intent, wouldn’t that constitute adequate support for censure?