Utah’s Polygamy Ban Has Challenge Dismissed

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Summary: A lawsuit brought against the polygamy ban by the family of reality show “Sister Wives” has been thrown out for lack of a legal stance.

The “Sister Wives” family has had their legal challenge to Utah’s polygamy ban struck down. The federal appeals court dismissed the challenge that used the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex couples having the right to marry last year.

  

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The reason for the dismissal of the challenge was on the technical side not a moral reason. The 10^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the plaintiffs did not have a standing to sue because the credible threat of prosecution was gone.

Read Polygamy in Utah Decriminalized by Federal Court to learn more.

The reality television family consisting of Kody Brown, his legal wife, three spiritual wives, and their combined 18 children claimed that the Utah law banning and criminalizing polygamy was against their constitutional rights. The Brown family argued that they were all consenting adults as a reason for the ban to be removed.

Utah’s attorney general office stated that the state has a “rational basis, and compelling interest, in averting the social harms associated with polygamy and polygamist practices” since “polygamist communities are rampant with sexual abuse of children and women.”

Read Busted Ashley Madison Users Scramble to Explain.

The appeals court focused on the policy that restricts polygamy prosecutions that was enacted a few years ago. The policy restricts prosecution to child bigamy cases or those involving fraud and allegations of abuse or violence. With this policy, the Brown’s do not face prosecution because they are adults and there are no issues of fraud or violence in the marriages.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2016/04/11/appeals-court-dismisses-challenge-to-utahs-polygamy-ban/

Photo: cnn.com