ACLU Gets Behind Larry Craig

The ACLU has filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of disgraced Republican Sen. Larry Craig, urging that the toe-tapping legislator withdraw his guilty plea because the restroom sting that resulted in his arrest was 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."

According to the ACLU's brief, solicitation for sex intended to take place in private, whether the solicitation takes place in a restroom or in a bar, is constitutionally protected under the First Amendment. Arrests should only take place if it is very clear that the sex is intended to take place in public, something not evident in the Craig case.

"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."

As much as we've all enjoyed the Craig circus, the ACLU is dead-on here, of course. The Craig arrest was a bullshit case to begin with and unrelated to his job performance. I'd like to see him survive this scandal because of the entrapment, but also because I'd love to see the GOP burdened with his sorry ass for another year.