In the 1992 case of Wisconsin v. Todd Mitchell, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Wisconsin statute that increased penalties for crimes motivated by racial bias. The defendant, Todd Mitchell, led a group attack on a white boy after watching "Mississippi Burning," and was convicted under this law with an enhanced sentence due to his racially-motivated actions. On appeal, he argued that the penalty enhancement violated his First Amendment rights because it punished him for his thoughts rather than just his actions. However, the Supreme Court disagreed and ruled in favor of Wisconsin's right to enhance sentences based on hate crime motivations without infringing upon free speech rights protected by the First Amendment.

In the dissenting opinion for Wisconsin v. Todd Mitchell, Justice Blackmun argued that while he agreed with the majority's goal of combating racial bias and violence, he disagreed with their method. He believed that enhancing a sentence based on motive was unconstitutional because it punished thought rather than action. In his view, this violated the First Amendment's protection of freedom of speech and thought by potentially chilling controversial or unpopular ideas out of fear they could be used as evidence in criminal proceedings. Furthermore, he expressed concern about how to determine when a particular bias-motivated belief influenced a crime enough to warrant an enhanced sentence - arguing that such determinations were too subjective and could lead to inconsistent application of justice.