Good points both. As I understand the Constitution, no "ex post facto" laws may be made -- making an actitivity a "crime" after the fact. It is silent as to whether an activity is removed from the definition of crime may still be considered criminal if committed while the law was still in place. I'll leave it to the legal eagles to suss this one out, but I suspect that you are right.

Still, it is telling that these guys would resort to this legal manuever to absolve themselves of the always criminal act of murder.

As for the "only white people" part of your question....most laws, ordinances, rules, etc. since the "New Jim Crow" (and well before) appeared, it's the effect and affect, the actually on-the-ground operation of these kinds of measures which make them discriminatory, i.e., racist.

As noted in the piece, earlier versions of "citizen's arrest" measures were not so careful or circumspect. They explicitly targeted black people.

Thanks for reading/commenting.