Larry Craig, the ACLU & Sex In Publc Restrooms

Its axiomatic that cases with bad facts make for bad law. And in that vein, there is the case of Senator Larry Craig (R-ID).

Craig, shown in the mug shot at left, continues to fight his conviction stemming from his solicitation of sex in an airport men's room. He pled guilty, then later tried to rescind his plea. The Court refused. But Craig hasn't given up - something for which only Leno and Letterman can possibly be thankful.

Now Craig has enlisted the ACLU to pursue his defense. Their argument is that, even accepting that Craig was soliciting sex from an undercover officer in the next stall, his acts were protected by a constitutional right to privacy.

Can you believe this inanity?

Craig was in a public restroom for God's sake. Even assuming he had a right to privacy when he sat down inside a stall and closed the stall door, the very essence of a right to privacy is that the person claiming the right acted reasonably to protect his privacy. When Craig acted with the intention that his sounds and acts would be witnessed outside his stall, he was clearly acting in a way that was not private.

Admittedly, the ACLU's argument is based on Minnesota Constitutional law and not the U.S. Constitution. I am not an expert in Minnesota law. That said, I cannot in the least imagine that there is a court in Minnesota or anywhere else in this nation that could conclude that their state Constitution would extend a right of privacy to sexual solicitations in a public place.

On more practical grounds, do we want to see something like this below when we enter a public restroom? Or far worse, do we want our young children exposed to it when we allow them to go into a public restroom?

Its one thing to tell the state to stay the hell out of one's bedroom. Its a different matter entirely to argue one has a constitutional right to bring their bedroom to the public.

Larry Craig is clearly willing to damage the fabric of our society in pursuit of his own ends. This is despicable. I could care less whether or not Larry Craig is gay - that has no bearing on his fitness to be in Congress. But his subterfuge, his poor judgment, and now his willingness to harm society do bear on that fitness. Larry Craig needs to end this travesty in the court system and resign his seat in the Senate.

As to the ACLU, for what little good they have done for society since their inception, the damage they have done to our nation in conjuction with activist judges is simply incalculable. This case is but one more example the ACLU's assault on American society.

You can find the article on the ACLU's defense of Senator Craig here.