Anti-lynching bill stalls in Senate after being blocked by Rand Paul

Rand Paul.
(Image credit: Win McNamee/AFP via Getty Images)

Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) criticized Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Thursday and his attempt to add an amendment to anti-lynching legislation.

The Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act, named after a 14-year-old black teenager who was murdered in Mississippi in 1955, would make lynching a federal crime. The House passed it in February, but Paul wants to add an amendment that would "simply add a serious bodily injury standard," he said in a statement. On Wednesday, Paul told reporters he is afraid that "bruises could be considered lynching. That's a problem, to put someone in jail for 10 years for some kind of altercation."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.