Yesterday, the U.S. Capitol Police announced that there would be no criminal charges after a former aide to Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md) filmed a porn scene in Room 216 in the Hart Senate Office Building. Aidan Maese-Czeropski filmed his having sex with his partner from the members seats. It turns out that it is not even a misdemeanor to shoot a porn scene in a Senate hearing room and then post it on the Internet. The decision officially confirms for many that Congress can be legally obscene. …

Ultimately, this was a novel case. It was not the sex but the film that made it more compelling for criminal review. However, the Capitol police was clearly not inclined to expand the definition of terms like “purloining” to cover a porn production.

The message appears to be for staffers to be a tad more discrete in trysts on public grounds. After all, Victor Hugo once stated, “I don’t mind what Congress does, as long as they don’t do it in the streets and frighten the horses.”

[I suppose the key factor in this decision was that the perp was authorized to access the room. That may have made prosecution tricky. However, Congress could fix that problem by passing a law making sexual activity in congressional offices on Capitol Hill a crime. How many Senators and Representatives would vote for such a bill? Hmmmm. — Ed]