Republican Senator Larry Craig. - File Photo image:33451:0::0

The ACLU has filed a brief in Minneapolis on behalf of Senator Larry Craig. Craig was arrested in June of last year for soliciting an undercover police officer in a public restroom in the MPLS International Airport during a layover.

The 28 page brief filed on Tuesday cites a number of state rulings, some dating back as far as 28 years, at which time it was decided by the State Supreme Court that people who have sex in closed stalls in public restrooms "have a reasonable expectation of privacy." The brief also states that the constitution does not allow the state to make the invitation to engage in sex in private a crime, and essentially an enclosed bathroom stall would be private. There was no evidence presented that would lead one to believe that Senator Craig wished to engage in sexual activity outside of the confines of the enclosed stall, so he really didn't do anything illegal according to the ACLU.

The brief goes on to state that if police in Minneapolis wanted to ensure the public of not having to encounter such activities in the public restrooms at the airport, then a sign should have been posted stating such. It should have been made clear to the public that anyone caught engaging in such activities would be subject to arrest, as opposed to conducting undercover sting operations, as was the case in Minneapolis.

The ACLU also claims that Senator Craig's foot tapping and hand waving falls under "protected speech". Although it was not a verbal invitation, the signals are still a form of speech and under the constitution Craig had every legal right to use those signals.

Then entire brief can be read here.

"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.

Senator Craig initially plead guilty to the charge of disorderly conduct for his behavior in the airport restroom, but later withdrew his plea and is diligently fighting the charges.

The ACLU brief comes on the heels of a 96 page brief filed last week by his personal legal team.

With the filing of this brief by the ACLU, what seemed to be a somewhat important case politically for the Senator appears to be headed in an even more precedent setting direction.

Should the charges be dropped and the court find in favor of Senator Craig, and in essence anyone soliciting sex in public restrooms, will we see an increase of such activities across the country?

Will it be necessary for all public restrooms to be posted with signs indicating that engaging in sex within the stalls therein is not allowed, and anyone doing so will be arrested? Have we really come to a point in this country that we have to post signs to that effect, as opposed to just assuming that normal decency will keep people from engaging in sexual activity in public?