Why Ted Cruz fought to outlaw dildos in Texas

[Matt Collins]

https://reason.com/blog/2016/04/13/heres-why-ted-cruz-fought-to-keep-sex-to

 

[undergroundrr]

Cruz's legal team tried to ban "obscene device" sales

LOL. What a free marketer -

The brief insisted that Texas, in order to protect "public morals," had "police-power interests" in "discouraging prurient interests in sexual gratification, combating the commercial sale of sex, and protecting minors." There was a "government" interest, it maintained, in "discouraging…autonomous sex." The brief compared the use of sex toys to "hiring a willing prostitute or engaging in consensual bigamy," and it equated advertising these products with the commercial promotion of prostitution. In perhaps the most noticeable line of the brief, Cruz's office declared, "There is no substantive-due-process right to stimulate one's genitals for non-medical purposes unrelated to procreation or outside of an interpersonal relationship." That is, the pursuit of such happiness had no constitutional standing. And the brief argued there was no "right to promote dildos, vibrators, and other obscene devices." The plaintiffs, it noted, were "free to engage in unfettered noncommercial speech touting the uses of obscene devices," but not speech designed to generate the sale of these items.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/04/ted-cruz-dildo-ban-sex-devices-texas

 

[cajuncocoa]

How is a vibrator a threat to public morals?

 

[jllundqu]

https://reason.com/blog/2016/04/13/heres-why-ted-cruz-fought-to-keep-sex-to

"There is no substantive-due-process right to stimulate one's genitals for non-medical purposes unrelated to procreation or outside of an interpersonal relationship" - Ted Cruz Legal Brief

You can't make this shit up.

Freedom for All! *(Conditions Apply)

To hell with Social Justice Warriors and their shennanigans

 

[jllundqu]

Duplicate thread

 

[undergroundrr]

Duplicate thread

Yep, Collins beat me by a minute.

 

[Wooden Indian]

Ted wanted to remain the only dildo in Texas fucking his people.

 

[undergroundrr]

 

[Suzanimal]

Yep, Collins beat me by a minute.

But he didn't post a teaser. You win.

 

[Suzanimal]

"There is no substantive-due-process right to stimulate one's genitals for non-medical purposes unrelated to procreation or outside of an interpersonal relationship."

So it's cool if I let my husband use it on me?

 

[undergroundrr]

BTW, according to trump trolls this site is full of Cruz supporters. The RPF Cruz brigade should be jumping on this thread any minute to defend their man. Waiting...

 

[jllundqu]

So Ted Cruz is all about Freedom.... as long as it doesn't affect his personal religious beliefs... then fuck freedom because, Jesus.

 

[SpiritOf1776_J4]

Dildo envy.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

BTW, according to trump trolls this site is full of Cruz supporters. The RPF Cruz brigade should be jumping on this thread any minute to defend their man. Waiting...

Not a member of the Cruz brigade, but Reason offered the obvious defense:

This is all fun stuff and will no doubt lead to some very clever jokes on The Daily Show. But there were also some very serious legal questions at stake. Namely, what limits does the U.S. Constitution place on the legislative power of state governments, and what role do federal judges play in enforcing those limits? Related to that, what sort of unenumerated rights (if any) are protected from state infringement by the 14th Amendment?

Cruz's argument in this case will be instantly familiar to every student of constitutional law, and it goes like this: The 14th Amendment is not a limitless fount of unwritten rights and it is not a blank check authorizing federal judges to overturn every state law they happen to find obnoxious or outdated. The states have always enjoyed broad authority to regulate in the name of health, safety, and public morals (so the argument goes) and the sex toy ban falls squarely within the scope of that longstanding state police power. If the people of Texas don't like the law, they should take their complaint to the ballot box, not to the federal courthouse.

I would add this originated with Mother Jones, and it is always interesting how in the eyes of the left, the Constitution allows things like bans on large cups of soda and "assault weapons", but advertising sex toys on neon billboards is a Constitutional right.

 

[Matt Collins]

Not a member of the Cruz brigade, but Reason offered the obvious defense:

Exactly... Cruz was trying to say that the federal government had zero authority to overturn Texas law on the issue... which I happen to agree with

 

[Keith and stuff]

Cruz wasn't exactly wrong. He was defending the Texas law against the illegal federal interference with it. That said, the Texas law was insane and Cruz should have STFU. This makes Cruz look very stupid, even though he was technically correct. This makes Cruz look like a Muslim extremist and completely out of touch with even 1970s America. I don't take a personal position, but clearly this would rightfully hurt Cruz in a general election.

 

[TheTexan]

Cruz has a good point. The same reasons used to outlaw prostitution can and should be used to outlaw dildos, vibrators, insertable fruit, etc.

 

[SpiritOf1776_J4]

I fought the dildo, and the dildo won. (sung to the tune of I fought the law)

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Cruz wasn't exactly wrong. He was defending the Texas law against the illegal federal interference with it. That said, the Texas law was insane and Cruz should have STFU. This makes Cruz look very stupid, even though he was technically correct. This makes Cruz look like a Muslim extremist and completely out of touch with even 1970s America. I don't take a personal position, but clearly this would rightfully hurt Cruz in a general election.

How much leeway does a Solicitor General have when deciding which State laws to defend?

Cruz's solicitor general office had the task of preserving the law.

In 2007, Cruz's legal team, working on behalf of then-Attorney General Greg Abbott (who now is the governor), filed a 76-page brief calling on the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to uphold the lower court's decision and permit the law to stand.

 

[Keith and stuff]

But it this way. I live in New Hampshire and fuck no I didn't vote for Cruz.