TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A federal judge partially blocked enforcement of Florida’s new anti-riot law Thursday, saying it is too vague and could lead to selective enforcement by police and the arrest of innocent people exercising their right to free speech.
The law’s “new definition of ‘riot’ both fails to put Floridians of ordinary intelligence on notice of what acts it criminalizes, and encourages arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement, making this provision vague to the point of unconstitutionality,” U.S. District Judge Mark Walker of Tallahassee wrote in a 90-page ruling.
Walker’s order is a temporary injunction preventing police from enforcing the law while the underlying case is tried in the courts. But he specified that it only prevents three sheriffs — in Broward, Leon and Duval counties — from enforcing the new definition of “riot” but doesn’t prevent them from suppressing riots as they could before the law took effect.
