Generally, the Republican Party (and a couple of gutless Democrats) shelved the Mathew Shepard/James Byrd act for 12 years because, according to them, it would be an “unwarranted expansion of federal power” and an “unconstitutional thought-crimes law”. The reason is that it gives the Federal government the power to intercede in certain cases where the motive may have been bigotry if the Federal government feels that the local justice system is not handling the case fast or fairly enough.
The reason why its needed is really pretty simple. Local Judges and police officers around the country have long allowed their own innate bigotry and local customs to cloud their interpretation and equal enforcement of the law. Usually its a political issue…the local Sheriff or Judge wants to be re-elected and is concerned that his/her opposition would attempt to paint that Sheriff or Judge as “out of touch with the local community”.
That’s why that bill needs to exist. There wouldn’t be any need for it if local law and judicial employees did their jobs according to the law once in awhile. The alternative is putting bureaucrats in charge to oversee local law enforcement and judges to ensure they’re following the letter of the law fairly, and if they’re not, those higher on the chain would recommend that they be reprimanded or terminated/recalled. I’d think that your local Judge or Sheriff would be more in favor of just dumping the situation on the Feds and getting out of it, rather than lose their jobs.