Some congressmen are irked that, in policy matters left to the states, laws are not uniform across the country. One of those issues is cyberbullying. Online harassment is difficult to define. Any definition depends on the intent of the bully and must encompass so many online activities that a resulting law would curtail free speech. At least, it would curtail free speech if it were enforceable enough to curtail anything, which is doubtful.

No one should be surprised, then, that some states don’t yet regulate cyberbullying or that the ones that do assign it varying definitions and penalties. Nevertheless, federal lawmakers are trying to rectify the situation.

The bill’s sponsor gives the weakest justification for federal interference in states’ affairs that I have ever heard:

“Some states do have … bullying laws on the books, many states don’t, and the laws sort of differ from state to state,” Sanchez said.