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, a U.S.
senator from 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. (AP)
