> Studying the judicial history of these laws, you quickly realize that law enforcement only applies them after it’s identified the journalist or protestor that

> Studying the judicial history of these laws, you quickly realize that law enforcement only applies them after it’s identified the journalist or protestor that it wants to arrest. The pattern is that authorities will find the offending speech and then choose the law that can be interpreted to most closely address it. The system results in a rule by law rather than rule of law: the goal is to arrest, try, and punish the individual—the law is merely a tool used to reach an already predetermined conviction. Thanks for the reminder about how laws against "offensive speech" will be used in practice.