Posted on 04/14/2016 4:49:04 PM PDT by drewh
Ted Cruz once argued that Americans have no constitutional right to bear dildos, that the government has a legitimate interest in discouraging "autonomous sex," and that allowing the sale of sex toys is the first step on the road to legal incest.
This history comes courtesy of David Corn, who went searching for skeletons in Cruz's closet and stumbled across a bunch of dildo baggage instead. On Wednesday, the Mother Jones magazine published an exposé detailing Cruz's defense of a ban on sex-toy sales while serving as the Texas solicitor general. Back in 2004, several adult-plaything providers challenged a Texas law that banned the sale and promotion of "obscene devices." At the time, only three other states had similar laws on the books. The plaintiffs founded their challenge on the Fourteenth Amendment's right to privacy, arguing, among other things, that some couples are unable to engage in intercourse without the aid of sex toys, or else require them to avoid passing along contagious diseases such as HIV. A federal judge turned the company down, it appealed, and in 2007 it fell to Cruz's legal team to keep dildos from undermining the fabric of Western civilization.
In a 76-page brief calling on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to stand with the lower court, Cruz's office wrote that "any alleged right associated with obscene devices" is not "deeply rooted in the Nation's history and traditions." While Cruz acknowledged that, after Lawrence v. Texas overturned sodomy laws, the government could not ban the "private use of obscene devices," it could ban their sale so as to uphold "public morals." What's more, while the government can't forbid citizens from masturbating, it has a legitimate interest in "discouraging ... autonomous sex." Cruz's team went on to declare, "There is no substantive-due-process right to stimulate one's genitals for non-medical purposes unrelated to procreation or outside of an interpersonal relationship."
The appeals court disagreed in a 2–1 decision, which held that the government has no business encroaching on Americans' most private of affairs. But Cruz and Texas attorney general Greg Abbott (who is now the state's governor) battled on, filing a brief requesting a hearing before the full court of appeals, claiming the three-judge panel had overstepped the precedent set by Lawrence. Cruz's office argued that the prior ruling would give all manner of deviants grounds to claim that "engaging in consensual adult incest or bigamy" must be legal as they have a right to "enhance their sexual experiences." They lost the motion and ultimately chose not to bring the matter to the Supreme Court.
Cruz has never discussed his views on dildo commerce during the 2016 campaign, and it's unlikely that many of his supporters know his history on such matters. It's difficult to gauge the effect this news will have on Cruz's standing with the electorate, as exit polls neglected to ask Republican primarygoers about their affinity for sexual devices. Regardless, the American people deserve to know whether Cruz still holds such an expansive view of the government's right to regulate public morality. There are undoubtedly no small number of patriots in this country who would tell President Cruz's jackbooted thugs, "I'll give you my dildo when you pry it from my cold, dead hands."
The Kasich reference was a jest. The term dildo can be used as a disparagement.
Oh how I wish our Governor defended 187 in court.
“”This history comes courtesy of David Corn, who went searching””
Bet’cha that creep didn’t have to SEARCH - he probably already has a library full of anything that smacks of porn!
I’m pretty sure we agree. The head legal official, under whatever title, of a country or state should defend the laws enacted legitimately by the country’s or state’s legislature.
It goes back to the question from colonial times: does a representative represent only himself and his own whims, or does he represent those who elected him? What is his responsibility to his position?
Oh. I’m known for my failure to comprehend humor.
As Texas solicitor general, it was his job to defend Texas law.
Yes, David Corn. The first person to out Valerie Plame as "undercover". If she was truly "undercover" as he claimed, then he and his source (Joe Wilson) should have gone to prison for it.
Yes, we agree. Which means we are old fuddy duddys who believe this is a representative republic with rule of law instead of the fashionable new view that it’s a democracy with oligarchic office holders.
Trump's campaign positions on the issues are very conservative. That's what matters to me.
So, sex is only to procreate. Does that mean he and Heidi stopped having sex after their second child was born?
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Absolutely.
That is why all the affairs and hookers. Come on. It is clear as day. ;-P
One of the worst things about our current system is that office holders and bazillions of public employees live outside the ordinary concerns of people who don’t have what Andrew Wilkow calls “government privilege.”
We must ban assault dildos. Think about the kids.
Too late! There has already been a study http://www.livescience.com/48858-link-between-sex-and-prostate-cancer.html
Yeah, gotta purge the lines
Unless the prosecutor decided he didn’t like that law and ignored it. (and apparently he did) Which I suppose is the precedent we’re now looking at that condemns SG Ted Cruz for not ignoring Texas law and his sworn duty to defend it at the time.
Greg Abbott was TX Att. General, not Ted Cruz.
You can feel it slipping away can't ya!
Is that the “two-tiered society” I keep hearing about?
Gooberment tier and peon tier.
Never mind all that. The juveniles are taking charge here. This is a lot better for them than scrawling their wit on bathroom walls.
Exactly. Just like in Kenya or Egypt. You’re either a government official/employee, or not.
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