Next week ReTHUGS and M$Greedia will ignore Wisconsin and

[malaise]

whip up the fear factor. Peter King knows what he's doing.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-martin/king-hearings-inconsistent-first-amendment-values_b_831437.html
<snip>
However, hearings about the "radicalization" of American religious communities are fundamentally different. While "radicalization" (or "extremism") is not defined, it appears that these hearings will focus on religious beliefs and communities of faith, rather than on criminal acts. If so, they will threaten fundamental First Amendment freedoms of religion and speech and association.

Religious liberties are protected by the First Amendment's command to respect individual rights by limiting government authority. While Congress has broad and necessary powers of oversight and inquiry, they are not unlimited. As the Supreme Court held in 1957 in one of the cases arising out of the McCarthy hearings, congressional inquiries, like legislation, may not tread on First Amendment freedoms.

The Supreme Court has just reaffirmed that even the most offensive speech by individuals is protected by the First Amendment, finding that the Westboro Baptist Church can't be sued for protesting at soldiers' funerals because it is protected speech. Accordingly, the First Amendment protects those who criticize or attack another's religion; it protects individuals questioning the "true nature of Islam," even when they express offensive and false views, just as it protects individuals who may hold religious beliefs deemed "radical" by others.

Thus, the FBI may not target individuals for investigation based simply on their "extremist" statements -- whether anti-Muslim or anti-U.S. -- because those statements, however hateful, are protected by the First Amendment. Of course, when individuals engage in criminal acts of violence inspired by their views, they forfeit First Amendment protections and are fully subject to investigation and prosecution. And the government may properly investigate and prosecute those who are suspected of planning such terrorist acts, as the planning itself is a crime.