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ACLU says First Amendment protects Craig's bathroom behavior
The Seattle P.I.. / AP ^
| September 17, 2007
Posted on 09/17/2007 4:21:38 PM PDT by 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.
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; US: Idaho
KEYWORDS: aclu; alreadyposted; craig; foottapper; larrycraig
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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 Craigs 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 dont 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 shouldnt 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 ACLUs brief is available at www.aclu.org/freespeech/gen/31842lgl20070917.html |
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1
posted on
09/17/2007 4:21:45 PM PDT
by
Stoat
To: Stoat
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
2
posted on
09/17/2007 4:25:14 PM PDT
by
goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
To: Stoat
Oh, so he was trying to communicate something.
3
posted on
09/17/2007 4:25:16 PM PDT
by
dighton
To: Stoat
LOL! That’s a pleading?
Gee, that would get every whore, hooker, and pimp out of jail tomorrow. LOL!
4
posted on
09/17/2007 4:25:35 PM PDT
by
bill1952
("All that we do is done with an eye towards something else.")
To: Stoat
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.
To: Stoat
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.
6
posted on
09/17/2007 4:27:41 PM PDT
by
Jeff Head
(Freedom is not free...never has been, never will be. (www.dragonsfuryseries.com))
To: Stoat
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
7
posted on
09/17/2007 4:29:41 PM PDT
by
Normal4me
To: MovementConservative
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.
8
posted on
09/17/2007 4:30:48 PM PDT
by
Jeff Head
(Freedom is not free...never has been, never will be. (www.dragonsfuryseries.com))
To: Stoat
“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?
9
posted on
09/17/2007 4:31:49 PM PDT
by
parthian shot
(I can't stand much more of this!!)
To: goldstategop
“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.
10
posted on
09/17/2007 4:32:58 PM PDT
by
navyguy
(Some days you are the pigeon, some days you are the statue.)
To: goldstategop
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.
11
posted on
09/17/2007 4:33:19 PM PDT
by
popdonnelly
(No more no win wars.)
To: Stoat
Just what I expected from a group that protects the likes of NAMBLA.
12
posted on
09/17/2007 4:34:04 PM PDT
by
rottndog
(Freedom IS NOT free-Let us NEVER forget those who've paid the highest price for it!)
To: Stoat
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.
13
posted on
09/17/2007 4:41:26 PM PDT
by
weegee
(NO THIRD TERM. America does not need another unconstitutional Clinton co-presidency.)
To: Stoat
>"an undercover officer at the Minneapolis airport alleged that Craig solicited him for sex."According to the "Bent One"
That aint sex... gawwwwwleeeee.....
14
posted on
09/17/2007 4:41:38 PM PDT
by
rawcatslyentist
(Did you know that everyday mexican gays sneak into this country and unplug our brain dead ladies HJS)
To: Stoat
The Craig story needs to stay above the Hsu story!!!!....
15
posted on
09/17/2007 4:43:17 PM PDT
by
GitmoSailor
(AZ Cold War Vet===Fairness Doctrine for TV First!!!!!.....I'Am With Fred)
To: MovementConservative
Try doing it in their restroom.
16
posted on
09/17/2007 4:43:19 PM PDT
by
weegee
(NO THIRD TERM. America does not need another unconstitutional Clinton co-presidency.)
To: Stoat
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>
To: Stoat
18
posted on
09/17/2007 4:45:26 PM PDT
by
Dumpster Baby
("Hope somebody finds me before the rats do .....")
To: goldstategop
You can count on the ACLU to support perverts.
19
posted on
09/17/2007 4:45:50 PM PDT
by
Dante3
To: Dante3
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.
20
posted on
09/17/2007 4:53:31 PM PDT
by
Baladas
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