Former Vermont governor and Democratic National Comittee chairman Howard Dean called out conservative pundit Ann Coulter on Twitter.

Dean said, "Hate speech is not protected by the first amendment."

Hate speech is not protected by the first amendment. https://t.co/DOct3xcLoY — Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) April 21, 2017



The comment was in response to a former New York Times reporter who tweeted, "Free Speech Defenders Don't Forget: Ann Coulter once said: My only regret w/ Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building."

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that " fighting words" are not constitutionally protected, meaning that the words would have to directly incite violence.

Timothy McVeigh was an American terrorist responsible for the Oklahoma City bombings that killed 168 people and injured hundreds.

Coulter has been in the news recently because a talk she was scheduled to give at University of California, Berkeley was canceled do to safety concerns. The talk has been rescheduled for May.