Senate education panel postpones vote on polarizing antisemitism definition

The Senate’s education committee on Wednesday postponed a vote on a bill that would require the U.S. Department of Education to use a definition of antisemitism that critics say would undermine free speech and preclude criticism against Israel. 

After two hours of contentious debate, Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Republican chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said the panel would defer the vote on the bill for another day. 

The bill, called the Antisemitism Awareness Act, would require the Education Department to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism when investigating Title VI discrimination and harassment on college campuses. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin at federally funded institutions.

Sens. Jacky Rosen, a Democrat from Nevada, and Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, introduced the bill in February, contending it would help the Education Department determine when antisemitism crosses the line from protected speech into harassment. A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a companion bill in the House that same month. 

During President Donald Trump’s first term, he signed an executive order directing the Education Department and other federal agencies to consider IHRA’s definition in Title VI investigations. The bill would codify that element of the executive order into law for the Education Department. 

The Anti-Defamation League, a strong supporter of the IHRA’s definition on antisemitism, has advocated for its adoption at the executive level.

However, the definition includes several examples that opponents of the bill worry could chill free speech. They include comparing “contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” and “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” 

‘You can’t regulate speech’

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the committee’s ranking member, condemned antisemitism and other forms of discrimination but said lawmakers must defend the First Amendment and the right to peacefully protest. 

“I worry very much that the Antisemitism Awareness Act that we are considering today is unconstitutional and will move us far along in the authoritarian direction that the Trump administration is taking us,” said Sanders, an independent from Vermont who is Jewish.

Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, voiced similar concerns. He argued that the examples included in the definition would undermine free speech rights and told Scott he would support the bill if they were removed. 

During the hearing, supporters of the bill pointed to language that says nothing in the Antisemitism Awareness Act should be used “to diminish or infringe upon any right protected under the First Amendment.” 

Scott also contended that the bill would instead be used to assess whether conduct — not speech — was antisemitic. 

“It’s the conduct that follows the speech that creates the harassment, not the speech itself,” Scott said.

However, Paul rejected that argument, contending that the examples in IHRA’s definition of antisemitism describe speech rather than conduct. 

“You can’t regulate speech,” Paul said. “Every one of the 11 examples is about speech.”

The committee narrowly approved several amendments to the bill, including one from Sanders that says “no person shall be considered antisemitic for using their rights of free speech or protest” to oppose Israel’s wartime actions in Gaza. Another one of Sanders’ amendments that passed would protect students rights’ to carry out demonstrations that adhere to campus protest policies.

The panel also passed an amendment from Sen. Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, stating that the federal government undermines First Amendment rights of immigrant college students and employees when it revokes their visas, detains them or deports them due to their free speech.