I don't agree that we already had hate crime laws before that legislation came along. We had laws prohibiting assault and battery, for example, but we did not have a law that provided for enhanced punishment if the assault and battery was motivated by racial hatred or some other type of hatred specified in the legislation. What Newt is talking about is entirely different.

Federal judges are governed by the Constitution, the rules of court, federal statutes and regulations, federal case decisions, and, in some cases, the laws of the various states. They are not permitted to decide cases according to Sharia law or any other religious law. Judges in state courts are governed by the same sources, as the Alabama Supreme Court learned back in the 60s when the U.S. Supreme Court forced them to follow their own state laws. Newt knows this. Apparently many attending the Summit don't.

I am not well versed on the law of hate crimes, but I tend to think they are a bad idea. While it would be gratifying to impose enhanced punishment on those who commit crimes motivated by hatred, the law is too blunt an instrument for that purpose. IMHO.