PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Jun 26, 2025
Stop Hate Crimes Act of 2025
This bill lowers the standard for establishing that a defendant's conduct constitutes a federal hate crime offense.
Currently, federal law prohibits willfully causing bodily injury or using a dangerous weapon to attempt to do so because of the actual or perceived protected characteristic (e.g., race or religion) of any person. In a prosecution for a hate crime offense, the government must establish that the defendant committed prohibited conduct because of a specific protected characteristic.
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The phrase because of is not defined. However, since 2014, courts have generally held that because of relates to causation and requires the government to establish but-for causation. For example, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held in United States v. Miller that in a prosecution for a hate crime offense, the phrase because of required the government to establish that but for the religion of the victims, the defendants would not have committed the assaults.
This bill replaces the because of standard, which relates to causation, with a new standard related to motive. Under the new standard, willfully causing bodily injury or using a dangerous weapon to attempt to do so is a hate crime offense if the actual or perceived protected characteristic of any person is a contributory motivating factor in the offense.
People & committees
Rep. Lieu, Ted [D-CA-36] · D–CA
Legislative record
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Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
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Source last updated: Sep 25, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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