Senator Wide Stance loses another round

From The Washington Post:

A Minnesota appeals court yesterday rejected Sen. Larry E. Craig's latest effort to withdraw his guilty plea, 18 months after the Idaho Republican was arrested in a Minneapolis airport bathroom during an undercover sex sting.

Since pleading guilty in August 2007 to disorderly-conduct charges after allegedly trying to solicit sex from an undercover police officer in June of that year, Craig has tried to pull back that plea, arguing that his behavior was not illegal and that the police pressured him into the plea. The Hennepin County District Court denied Craig's petition in October 2007, and the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed that decision yesterday.

In his appeal, Craig argued that the district court fundamentally erred in its decision, that the state's disorderly-conduct statute was unconstitutionally broad and that his behavior in the airport bathroom stall should be considered legally protected speech. The court rejected those arguments.

The American Civil Liberties Union had filed a brief in support of Craig's appeal. [Geez . . . Spare us please.]