ACLU says First Amendment protects Craig's bathroom behavior

The Seattle P.I.. / AP ^ | September 17, 2007

[Stoat]

ACLU says First Amendment protects Craig's bathroom behavior

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MINNEAPOLIS -- Sen. Larry Craig's foot-tapping and hand movements in an airport bathroom amounted to speech protected by the First Amendment, the American Civil Liberties Union argued in court papers on Monday.

The Idaho senator pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct after an undercover officer at the Minneapolis airport alleged that Craig solicited him for sex. Craig has denied that, and his attorneys have asked a judge to let him withdraw the guilty plea.

Craig was accused of moving his foot next to a police officer's foot and tapping it in a way that indicated he wanted sex. He was also accused of sending a signal by swiping his hand under the divider between the stalls, and of peering into the officer's stall before Craig took his own stall.

Even if he did those things, they're not a crime, the ACLU argued. And even if Craig solicited sex, it would only be a crime if police could prove he was seeking illegal bathroom sex and not a legal liaison somewhere else.

The ACLU also argued that the disorderly conduct statute is too vague to be enforceable in Craig's case.

The ACLU asked the judge to accept its arguments as a friend-of-the-court brief in Craig's case.

Chuck Samuelson, the executive director of the ACLU's Minnesota branch, said other police departments have prevented bathroom sex by posting signs and patrolling with uniformed officers.

Samuelson said the airport undercover work "is the kind of sting operation that at the very best borders on entrapment."

A Hennepin County District Court judge is scheduled to hear arguments on Craig's motion to withdraw his guilty plea on Sept. 26.

[Stoat]

American Civil Liberties Union ACLU Says Secret Sting Operation Used to Arrest Senator Larry Craig Was Likely Unconstitutional

ACLU Says Secret Sting Operation Used to Arrest Senator Larry Craig Was Likely Unconstitutional (9/17/2007)

 

Tells Court to Allow Senator to Withdraw Plea

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today submitted a friend-of-the-court brief to a Minnesota District Court urging it to allow Senator Larry Craig to withdraw his guilty plea because the secret sting operation used to arrest him was likely unconstitutional. 

"The real motive behind secret sting operations like the one that resulted in Senator Craig’s arrest is not to stop people from inappropriate activity.  It is to make as many arrests as possible – arrests that sometimes unconstitutionally trap innocent people," said Anthony Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. "If the police really want to stop people from having sex in public bathrooms, they should put up a sign banning sex in the restroom and send in a uniformed officer to patrol periodically. That works."

In its brief, the ACLU argues that the government can arrest people for soliciting public sex only if it can show beyond doubt that the sex was to occur in public.  Solicitation for private sex, regardless if it occurs in a bar or a restroom, is protected speech under the First Amendment.  When free speech rights come into play, police enforcement actions must be "carefully crafted" so that they don’t unnecessarily ensnare people who are engaging in constitutionally protected speech. 

The secret sting operation used by the police to arrest Senator Craig was not "carefully crafted" to avoid ensnaring innocent speech, says the ACLU.  Alternatively, posting a sign that the restroom is being monitored is an effective means of deterring public sex without risking trampling on free speech rights and illegally trapping someone who might not intend to have sex in public in the first place.   In fact, many law enforcement agencies, including the Minneapolis Police Department and the U.S. Department of Justice, recommend signs rather than secret sting operations as enforcement mechanisms. 
(See: www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=1460)

"Senator Craig has not always been a great friend of civil liberties, but you shouldn’t have to endorse the civil liberties of others to keep your own," said Romero.  "Government should make public restrooms safe for all, but it should do so in a manner that is really designed to stop inappropriate behavior, rather than destroying the lives of people who might have no intention of doing anything illegal."

A copy of the ACLU’s brief is available at
www.aclu.org/freespeech/gen/31842lgl20070917.html

[goldstategop]

I disagree with the ACLU. Obscene and lewd conduct in a public place is NOT protected speech.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[dighton]

Oh, so he was trying to communicate something.

[bill1952]

LOL! That’s a pleading?

Gee, that would get every whore, hooker, and pimp out of jail tomorrow. LOL!

[MovementConservative]

And even if Craig solicited sex, it would only be a crime if police could prove he was seeking illegal bathroom sex and not a legal liaison somewhere else.

I agree with them. I tried to pick up girls before in a different setting and different ways. I would not want to be picked up for disorderly conduct or solicitation everytime I winked at a female.

[Jeff Head]

Disorderly conduct, as defined by the people of Minnesota, is a crime. Disorderly conduct typically encompasses things like disturbing the peace, lewd or lascivious conduct, loitering, etc., etc.

Solicitiation of sex in any public place, where children may easily be present (a park, a public restroom, etc.) has been deemed by most moral and rational Americans to be a crime.

Craig pled guilty to disorderly conduct and his sworn statement in the guilty plea indicated that whatever behavior he took part in was offensive and would have been deemed offensive by anyone involved.

Sorry ACLU, case closed.

[Normal4me]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. And this just in.....having gay sex in a public restroom is okay too.

Hey, if we are going to "interpret" this so-called living thing....../sarc

[Jeff Head]

Winking is not considered by most rational Americans to be lewd. Engaging in conduct in a public bathroom that is meant to solicit gay sex, at least to the people of Minnesota and most other places, is considered lewd and disorderly...as well it should be.

Craig pled guilty to it...and his own plea indicates that the behavior he was engaged in was physical in nature and offensive.

I disagree fundamantally with the ALCU on this...and almost all other cases they get involved with because they want to tear away and negate the moral fabric of society which is the underpinning of its laws.

[parthian shot]

“ACLU Says Secret Sting Operation Used to Arrest Senator Larry Craig Was Likely Unconstitutional (9/17/2007)....”

Since when did the ACLU become interested in upholding the Constitution?

[navyguy]

“Obscene and lewd conduct in a public place is NOT protected speech.”

The fact that it is lewd is WHY the ACLU wants it protected.

[popdonnelly]

Hey, that puts the Democrats at odds with the First Amendment and the ACLU. Of course, what Barney Frank does in the Men’s Room is nobodies’ business.

[rottndog]

Just what I expected from a group that protects the likes of NAMBLA.

[weegee]

End the discrimination now, no sexist designations on bathrooms. If men have to contend with men hitting them up for dates, then the women will have to endure the perverts too.

[rawcatslyentist]

>"an undercover officer at the Minneapolis airport alleged that Craig solicited him for sex."

According to the "Bent One"

That aint sex... gawwwwwleeeee.....

[GitmoSailor]

The Craig story needs to stay above the Hsu story!!!!....

[weegee]

Try doing it in their restroom.

[Luke Skyfreeper]

Why, they're right, of course.

Just like the words of O.J., and the possible brandishing of weapons, in that particular incident, were merely O.J. and his friends expressing themselves. They needed to express that anger. It's healthy.

It's all freedom of expression, don't ya know?

OJ: "Don't let nobody out this room. M*****f*****s! Think you can steal my s*** and sell it?"

OJ: "Don't let nobody out of here. M*****f*****, you think you can steal my s***?... You think you can steal my s***? Think you can steal my s***?"

("Mike took it.")
("You, against the m*****f****** wall.")

OJ: "I know f*****g Mike took it."

("Get your m*****f*****g a**es up. Stand the f*** up.")

I'd say both Larry and O.J. have had their 1st Amendment rights violated by the police. Sue the pigs!!!

< /sarc>

[Dumpster Baby]

[Dante3]

You can count on the ACLU to support perverts.

[Baladas]

Hell yeah, the ACLU’s just protecting my son’s right to have anonymous sex in the men’s room when he turns of age, which they want to be around four.