ACLU: Sex in restroom stalls is private
 

ACLU: Sex in restroom stalls is private

ST. PAUL, Minn. - In an effort to help Sen. Larry Craig, the American Civil Liberties Union is arguing that people who have sex in public bathrooms have an expectation of privacy.

Craig, of Idaho, is asking the Minnesota Court of Appeals to let him withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct stemming from a bathroom sex sting at the Minneapolis airport.

The ACLU filed a brief Tuesday supporting Craig. It cited a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling 38 years ago that found that people who have sex in closed stalls in public restrooms "have a reasonable expectation of privacy."

That means the state cannot prove Craig was inviting an undercover officer to have sex in public, the ACLU wrote.

The Republican senator was arrested June 11 by an undercover officer who said Craig tapped his feet and swiped his hand under a stall divider in a way that signaled he wanted sex. Craig has denied that, saying his actions were misconstrued.

The ACLU argued that even if Craig was inviting the officer to have sex, his actions wouldn't be illegal.

"The government cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Senator Craig was inviting the undercover officer to engage in anything other than sexual intimacy that would not have called attention to itself in a closed stall in the public restroom," the ACLU wrote in its brief.

The ACLU also noted that Craig was originally charged with interference with privacy, which it said was an admission by the state that people in the bathroom stall expect privacy.

Craig at one point said he would resign but now says he will finish his term, which ends in January 2009.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080116/...s/craig_appeal

unbelievable

I'd put the ACLU and this Republican Senator in the same basket.

Private sex in public bathroom? :1orglaugh Never mind.

It's bad publicity for the ACLU, plus they are trying to bail out a Republican pervert.

Amazing. :)

lol -I will have to remember that for when I get to the states :)

Not sure about pervert :disgust

Maybe 'Hypocrite'.....

That's pretty silly. A bathroom stall is not a closet, you can hear things and see things. And what about the ones without a door? Damn.

Well no door and no expectation of privacy.

However if your in a closed door stall and your dropping a load or hell spanking your pecker to some hot married chick you saw in the lobby you would expect some privacy, or would you be ok if I just pushed the door open mid loaf? Hell there are even locks on many stall doors. Seems like they are meant for privacy. Hell even the word privy means both a toilet and forms of privacy.

I don't know why the ACLU would want to be defending that piece of shit but the Minnesota courts have ruled 38 years ago that people have an expectation to privacy in closed stalls so legally the ACLU is right in filing this brief.

How dare he call a man who tries to get random men in the shitter to let him suck their cock a pervert; Why thats completely normal behavior.

Perhaps because they feel that even if you don't like somebody you still defend their freedoms?

For a congressman, cocksuckers!

Oh, man. I always thought that mean "shit on my hand". i must look like a real asshole now. :-(

how would you expect a privacy when you're doing it in public??? :helpme

:2 cents::thumbsup

Defending freedoms is most important when they are surrounded by circumstances that we don't, personally, agree with.

I just renewed my membership to the ACLU yesterday. They do good work.

Where do you expect him to get his rocks off - The local DC gay club?

As I said - hypocrite not pervert..

I thought it meant pass the toilet paper, my stalls empty.

Pieces of shit deserve the same treatment under the law as non pieces of shit...

What about George Michael? Or what about all the other people that have been busted jacking off or getting/giving head or glory holes or whatever the fuck else people have been arrested for because they were in a public bathroom.

It's not like this is the first time someone has been in trouble for trying to get some play in a bathroom. Where was the ACLU then? Ohhhhhh, it wasn't a senator then was it? I guess only important people getting in trouble get the ACLU moving.

If I ever felt I was being prosecuted contrary to my Constitutional Rights, I would write the ACLU - petitioning them to consider taking up my case, and would be confident that they'd give the request due consideration.

I'm guessing George Michael and the other folks 'that have been busted' didn't do that.

It doesn't take "important people" (though maybe what they might consider "important cases") to get the ACLU moving - you only need to take a look at their case-load over the last year to figure that out... but I think it at least takes something being brought to their attention - whether by individuals, or the media.

that is silly! how can he say it's private when it's a public restroom.

Defending freedom no matter what...


ACLU