Excerpt:
It's not exactly the kind of thing that high-ranking Democratic Congressman John Conyers Jr. wants to be reminded of as he circulates his "Sense of Congress Resolution" which calls for the vigilant protection of American Muslims' "First Amendment protected rights." Because while Conyers is steadfastly committed to protecting the First Amendment rights of Muslims, he wasn't always as keen on protecting the First Amendment rights of the rest of us.
In 1988, Conyers was the keynote speaker at a conference held at Hofstra University (New York's largest private college). The conference, attended by some of the leading (and predominantly liberal) legal scholars of Europe, Canada, Australia, and the U.S., had one purpose – to create a model statute that would criminalize speech that "defames" minority religious, racial, and ethnic groups.
Essentially, the purpose of the conference was to scuttle the First Amendment, and bring European-style speech restrictions to the U.S.