Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez charged four men over the weekend with plotting terrorist acts. It is the first time Illinois prosecutors applied an anti-terrorism law the state passed right after the 9/11 terrorist attacks: Prosecutors allege that three men were conspiring to make molotov cocktails and that a fourth suspect, in a separate incident, bragged that he had a carful of explosives.

There are multiple questionable aspects to the case, including the prolonged detention of other arrested protesters at a Chicago police district. Also questionable, as the Tribune reports today, is why federal prosecutors have not gotten involved, if the suspected behavior truly rises to a terrorist threat.