Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace, on the Lindsay Clancy case: “Her children are dead, she should be dead too. She should be publicly executed. She deserves no less than that”

Lindsay Clancy lost her three young children in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in a case that shocked the United States.

While justice is still assessing her mental health at the time of the incident, Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace spoke publicly and left no room for nuance: “Her children are dead, she should be dead too. She should be publicly executed. She deserves no less than that”, she declared.

The phrase was repeated on social media almost immediately, along with the usual questions in cases like this: What place should maternal mental health have in a trial? Can a public official call for someone’s death before a verdict has been issued? For many, Mace’s words crossed a line that even outrage over a tragedy should not cross.