Judge calls Florida anti-riot law a ‘trap.’ We know who will suffer under it

Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican lawmakers swore Florida’s new “anti-riot” law isn’t meant to target Black Lives Matter protesters or quell civil disobedience, even though the governor pitched it in the aftermath of last summer’s demonstrations against police brutality. A federal judge saw right through their bogus excuse, writing that the law “empowers law enforcement officers to exercise their authority in arbitrary and discriminatory ways.” U.S. District Judge Mark Walker wrote in a ruling this week that the definition of a “riot” is so vague that “Floridians of ordinary intelligence” could...