Senator J. D. Vance wrote a letter to the Irish ambassador inquiring about Ireland’s proposed new law which would make the utterance, publication, or mere possession of speech that a judge may infer could incite hatred of protected groups (non-whites, foreigners, LGBT, etc.) punishable:

The most important feature of the letter is that it casts the law as a potential departure from fundamental shared values of free expression, in a way that could damage relations with other free countries.

Americans of a certain age will remember when Michael Fay was convicted of littering in Singapore and sentenced to a cane lashing. The Clinton administration eventually expressed its anger over the punishment. Will future administrations go after Ireland for imprisoning Americans who happened to possess speech on their phone that might offend an Irish guard or judge?