Meet G. Harrold Carswell, the Larry Craig of the 1970s Who Nearly Became a Supreme Court Justice!
Did you know that even before the George Michael era, powerful Republican politicians were being arrested for Lewd Sex Crimes in public bathrooms? Did you know that America was briefly threatened by the probability of a Toilet Cruiser becoming a Supreme Court Justice?
Way back when Richard Nixon presided over our Grand Imperial Presidency, there was a guy named Abe Fortas on the Court. The segregationists didn't like Abe because he was pals with LBJ and then he got caught accepting large "fees" from "American University" and Wall Street, so he quit in shame and the segregationists got a totally mediocre Florida judge (and segregationist) nominated by Nixon.
His name was G. Harrold Carswell, and the "G" stood for "Homosexual." (The extra "r" in "Harrold" stood for "cruisy toilet.") Nobody really liked him, even though he did try to keep negroes from infecting the white-people schools. Here's what ultra right-wing Senator Roman Hruska said in Carswell's defense:
"Even if he is mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance?"
So, Carswell didn't make it to SCOTUS. He ran for the Senate, and failed, and then in 1976 he was arrested in a public restroomin (of course) Florida, and eventually "convicted of battery for advances he made to an undercover police officer."