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| Federal judge declares Utah polygamy law unconstitutional | |
| 2013-12-15 | |
[SLTRIB] A U.S. District Court judge has sided with the polgyamous Brown family, ruling that key parts of Utah's polygamy laws are unconstitutional.
Waddoups' ruling attacks the parts of Utah's law making cohabitation illegal. In the introduction, Waddoups says the phrase "or cohabits with another person" is a violation of both the First and 14th amendments. Waddoups later writes that while there is no "fundamental right" to practice polygamy, the issue really comes down to "religious cohabitation." In the 1800s -- when the mainstream LDS Churh still practiced polygamy -- "religious cohabitation" in Utah could have actually resulted in "multiple purportedly legal marriages." Today, however, simply living together doesn't amount to being "married," Waddoups writes. "The court finds the cohabitation prong of the Statute unconstitutional on numerous grounds and strikes it," Waddoups later writes. Utah's bigamy statute technically survived the ruling. However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... Waddoups took a narrow interpretation of the words "marry" and "purports to marry," meaning that bigamy remains illegal only in the literal sense -- when someone fraudulently acquires multiple marriage licences. The Browns could not immediately be reached Friday night, but issued a statement through their lawyer calling the decision humbling and historic. "While we know that many people do not approve of plural families, it is our family and based on our beliefs," Brown wrote. "Just as we respect the personal and religious choices of other families, we hope that in time all of our neighbors and fellow citizens will come to respect our own choices as part of this wonderful country of different faiths and beliefs." | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 National Geographic had a detailed article on Warren Jeffs et al a few years ago. Jeffs and his followers are very creepy people. One of the byproducts of having the big shots controlling all the women, is that a lot of boys in their early teens get kicked out of the community--age 13 or 14--and wind up homeless. Polygamy, female poverty, and chronic destitution go together. |
| Posted by: mom 2013-12-15 17:20 |
| #3 Once they're done beating marriage into shape as just another tax dodge for rich people (moslems in particular), they'll eventually ban the practice. Which is what "they" are really trying to do. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2013-12-15 13:41 |
| #2 Seems that it's worst result is marrage to more than one wife, in many cases, a fate worse than death, I don't know many women who CAN get along with each other, much less in a close knit family life. If not close nit, so much the worse. You can have it, not me. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2013-12-15 11:53 |
| #1 So evidently you could have as many common-law spouses as you want under this decision. The judge not only took down the polygamy law, but also just made gay marriage legal in Utah. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2013-12-15 09:45 |