Cite as: 538 U. S. 343 (2003)
Opinion of Scalia, J.
direct a verdict for a defendant who has been shown to have burned a cross in public view, even if, by the end of trial, the defendant has presented rebuttal evidence. Instead, according to the Virginia Supreme Court, the effect of the prima-facie-evidence provision is far more limited. It suffices to "insulate the Commonwealth from a motion to strike the evidence at the end of its case-in-chief," but it does nothing more. 262 Va., at 778, 553 S. E. 2d, at 746 (emphasis added). That is, presentation of evidence that a defendant burned a cross in public view is automatically sufficient, on its own, to support an inference that the defendant intended to intimidate only until the defendant comes forward with some evidence in rebuttal.
II
The question presented, then, is whether, given this understanding of the term "prima facie evidence," the cross-burning statute is constitutional. The Virginia Supreme Court answered that question in the negative. It stated that "§ 18.2-423 sweeps within its ambit for arrest and prosecution, both protected and unprotected speech." Ibid. "The enhanced probability of prosecution under the statute chills the expression of protected speech sufficiently to render the statute overbroad." Id., at 777, 553 S. E. 2d, at 746.
This approach toward overbreadth analysis is unprecedented. We have never held that the mere threat that individuals who engage in protected conduct will be subject to arrest and prosecution suffices to render a statute overbroad. Rather, our overbreadth jurisprudence has consistently focused on whether the prohibitory terms of a particular statute extend to protected conduct; that is, we have inquired whether individuals who engage in protected conduct can be convicted under a statute, not whether they might be subject to arrest and prosecution. E. g., Houston v. Hill, 482 U. S. 451, 459 (1987) (a statute "that make[s] unlawful a substantial amount of constitutionally protected conduct may be held facially invalid" (emphasis added)); Grayned v. City of Rock-
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