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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| ACLU: Sex in restroom stalls is private |
| 2008-01-16 |
| 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. |
| Posted by:Deacon Blues |
| #6 DV: I don't care if it is private or not. The last thing I want to see when I go to empty my bodily wastes it two people boinking. And the last thing most people want to hear when they're boinking is somebody else emptying his bodily wastes. But I guess for folks like Larry Craig, that's a feature, not a bug. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2008-01-16 21:57 |
| #5 Lileks: . . . I canÂ’t get past the inherent absurdity. The ACLU filed a brief yesterday in the Larry Craig case, and they insist the right to privacy includes thumping around in a public privy. ThereÂ’s nothing more to say. The thing reeks for itself, as the Romans used to say. |
| Posted by: Mike 2008-01-16 21:32 |
| #4 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." I think we need a new ruling. |
| Posted by: Whomong Guelph4611 2008-01-16 21:31 |
| #3 I don't care if it is private or not. The last thing I want to see when I go to empty my bodily wastes it two people boinking. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-01-16 19:12 |
| #2 The expectation of privacy belongs to the guy in the next stall trying to take a dump. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-01-16 18:44 |
| #1 When the ACLU is mentioned in regards to anything, they are generally on the wrong side of the issue. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2008-01-16 18:01 |