After a century of efforts to make lynching a federal hate crime, the Senate passed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act with unanimous approval on Monday.

The bill passed the House on Feb. 28 with 3 Republicans voting against the bill — Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Chip Roy, R-TX. Now, the bill will go to the White House for President Joe Biden’s signature, which will make the bill law.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., blocked a similar effort to make the bill a federal crime in 2020 and justified his dissent by stating that the bill was too broad, but he has changed his stance this time around.

“I’m pleased to have worked with Senators Cory Booker [D-NJ] and Tim Scott [R-SC] to strengthen the language of this bill, which will ensure that federal law will define lynching as the absolutely heinous crime that it is,” Paul said on the bill’s passing.

“I’m glad to cosponsor this bipartisan effort and I applaud the Senate for quickly passing this important legislation,” Paul added.

The bill makes “lynching” and “other conspiracies” a federal crime that can result in imprisonment “for not more than 30 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both.”

It also makes other conspiracies a crime including if serious bodily injury or death results from the offense or if the offense includes “kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.”

“The effort to pass anti-lynching legislation has spanned more than a century. After 200 failed attempts, Congress is now finally prepared to reckon with America’s history of racialized violence,” Sen. Booker said of Paul's support of the bill.

RELATED STORIES