ACLU Comes To Larry Craig's Defense

Says Foot-Tapping, Hand Movements Are Speech Protected By First Amendment

(AP)  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.

[mitywhity]

Craig is a disgusting phony who has shamed his wife and kids. Who cares if the ACLU gets him off the hook anyway? I love how speech has been looked at through so many different prisms that it is now distorted to include what Craig did - that''s right...did. No matter what they manage to accomplish, the fact is that he wanted to have secks (censors won''t let me spell it right) with a man he managed to only glimpse at through a stall. He''s a nasty individual.

[bks59]

i found a new word for stupi: infidel_us

[kansas1946]

By the way, just so I don''t look too supid, Bush in a speech called the ACLU, UCLA, another Bushism, but it has been several years, I figured I better make that clear. :o)

[kansas1946]

Ohh...that evil UCLA defending a Republican''s civil liberties. Gosh, what is Rush to do. What a condumdrum...

[myidoncbs]

It''s funny that repugs are claiming that the ACLU took this case just to be "bringing shame to the whole proceeding".

The truth is, the ACLU is not "liberal" or "conservative". The ACLU takes cases that offer the opportunity to support the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. That''s their goal, period. They are NOT "commies", or "lefties", or anything other than true Constitution-loving American citizens.

The fact that the right-wing types hate the ACLU simply indicates that the right-wing does NOT support the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Their talk of "freedom" is empty posturing. They only want freedom for themselves, and slavery for everyone else. Their idal form of government is fascism. Unfortunately, one of the characteristics of fascists is that they always pretend to be something else.

[infidel_us]

You just got to love those liberal values...;0
Posted by ozilot at 04:40 PM : Sep 18, 2007

Yeah...about as much as we love leprosy and STD''s. The ACLU takes ONE case in 100,000 representing a republican, and only then for bringing shame to the whole proceeding. It''s not because they are interested in justice for all.

[bigal321321]

First let me state that I''m a moderate Democrat. I see this whole affair as sad. I always thought that these high-up political types were above average intelligence, but obviously not. His mistake was to plead guilty. But I understand why he did. How are you going to explain this to the little woman? So he committed the crime of being stupid. Should he lose his whole career over one moment of stupidity? It appears thats the way his Republican friends (if you want to call them that) want to treat him. This is too sad for words.

[jacksteen1]

Why doesn''t this Grandfather Pervert member of the Republiscum Party just go the *** away and die like the hypocritical pile of ******* he is ?

The ACLU should more carefully pick its cases, as they have eroded their own base of supporters over nonsensical ********* like this.

The man''s doomed. *** him AND his tired-*** family and children.

Oh, yeah - his ''wife came with an "Unsta-Family"...old Larry didn''t have to do ANYTHING to claim the mantle of ''fatherhood."

A miracle of fatherhood - - just like Tiny Tom Cruise, the dyslexic $cientologist-fool!

[bogusbones]

Over 50, under 10, what''s it make a difference? Here in Idaho it is fairly well known about the man''s sexual preferences. He looked in the crack of the officer''s stall door for a couple of minutes before he entered the next stall and started the "wide stance" and "picking up the paper" routine. Give me a break and stop apologizing for this person.
"Dirty, nasty naughty boy" is how he characterized Clinton for his White House flirtations. I''d rather have my President fooling around in the White House than trolling for *** in a public bathroom.

[downhill240]

Isn''t it ironic that this ultra-conservative self-purported ****-phobic hypocrite is being defended by the Left-wing orginization the ACLU.

What they seem to have missed here is that law against the invasion of personal space.

I promise you that if we happen to be using adjacent stalls and you put your hand or foot on my side of the partition it will be shaken vigorously!!