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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 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


1 posted on 09/17/2007 4:21:45 PM PDT by Stoat
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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)
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To: Stoat
Oh, so he was trying to communicate something.
3 posted on 09/17/2007 4:25:16 PM PDT by dighton
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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.")
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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.

5 posted on 09/17/2007 4:26:04 PM PDT by MovementConservative (Terminate the Duke 88)
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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))
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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
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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!!)
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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!)
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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.)
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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)
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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)
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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>

17 posted on 09/17/2007 4:43:34 PM PDT by Luke Skyfreeper
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To: Stoat

18 posted on 09/17/2007 4:45:26 PM PDT by Dumpster Baby ("Hope somebody finds me before the rats do .....")
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To: Stoat

I’m sure bathroom crusing was James Madison’s intent.


21 posted on 09/17/2007 6:06:02 PM PDT by Finalapproach29er (Dems will impeach Bush in 2008; mark my words.)
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To: Stoat

Craig was convicted of one crime and the ACLU can’t help him: He was convicted of hypocrisy in the Court of Public Opinion.


23 posted on 09/17/2007 6:13:28 PM PDT by live+let_live
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To: Stoat

Time place and manner.

soliciting sex in a public rest room is the wrong time, wrong place, and wrong manner.


26 posted on 09/17/2007 7:25:10 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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