Specfically, Friday's ruling invalidates portions of Utah Code Section 76-7-101, which provides, among other things, that "(1) A person is guilty of bigamy when, knowing he has a husband or wife or knowing the other person has a husband or wife, the person purports to marry another person or cohabits with another person." [Emphasis added.]
Here's the gist, from the above linked SL-Trib writeup:
Judge Clark Waddoups’ 91-page ruling, issued Friday (12/13/13) , sets a new legal precedent in Utah, effectively decriminalizing polygamy. It is the latest development in a lawsuit filed by the family of Kody Brown, who became famous while starring in cable TV channel TLC’s reality series "Sister Wives." The show entered a fourth season at the end of the summer.Needless to say, the the plaintiffs and their trial counsel are "whooping it up" (even more than usual), in which connection we're delighted provide this link to prevailing attorney Turley's blog, where the post-decision tone is more than a mite celebratory:
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, 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.
As Mr. Turley anticipates, this matter will be no doubt taken up on appeal by the Utah Attorney General’s Office (what's left of it) to the US Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.
It goes without saying, of course, that we'll be keeping a close eye on this.
As an added bonus, we'll present what we suggest might be the possible new "Brown Family" theme-song, heheheh:
In the meantime, what say our gentle readers about all this?
