Reply #25: That last question is too broad for an answer

[jberryhill]

But the baseline is the First Amendment.

As you mention, it is a "piddling offense". Of greater concern than the behavior of the newspaper or the reporter with whom you've been corresponding is your daughter having blown the issue out of all reasonable proportion. That's not unusual either, but your treatment of the situation in engaging in "the mother of all flame wars" with the paper, doesn't seem to reinforce the notion that a misdemeanor arrest is not the end of the world. Modeling an appropriate response might be a better course than reinforcing the exaggerated reaction that your daughter is having.

Again, what can't be answered on DU is whether there is a specific statute implicated here.