UPDATED: 'Sister Wives’ lawsuit coming back to Utah courtroom

The lawsuit filed by the polygamous Brown family goes back to a courtroom on Thursday. But the plaintiffs, made famous by the television show "Sister Wives," can already claim some successes.

The Browns have won the issue of whether they are allowed to sue, and they managed to win it without getting prosecuted for bigamy. That means U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups will hear arguments Thursday on the heart of the case: whether Utah’s statute making plural marriage a crime is unconstitutional.

The Browns’ attorney, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, issued a statement last week. Please read the rest at: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55606398-78/browns-wives-utah-sister.html.csp

(Source: The Salt Lake Tribune)

Updates to the proceedings:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55643460-78/waddoups-polygamy-utah-jensen.html.csp
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/sister-wives-lawsuit-back-utah-courtroom
http://fox13now.com/2013/01/17/judge-contemplates-decriminalizing-polygamy-sister-wives/

Another Take on the "Sister Wives" Lawsuit Dismissal.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff wants a federal judge to dismiss a polygamous family's lawsuit challenging the state's bigamy law, contending the stars of "Sister Wives" lack standing to do so.
Kody Brown and his four wives have failed to show that their constitutional rights were violated as a result of the statute, according to a motion filed in U.S. District Court.
"The Brown family is hardly the only polygamist family in Utah," the 15-page memorandum says, noting there are about 30,000 polygimists in the state. "There are not 30,000 cases currently being prosecuted in Utah — there is not even one."

Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman has threatened to file charges against the Browns since their television reality show "Sister Wives" debuted last September. And their lawyer, Jonathan Turley, said that alone is enough to put the family in a position to sue the state over the bigamy law.
In filing the suit against the state and county last month, Turley said the Browns, who moved to Nevada in January, are not demanding recognition of their polygamous marriage. The lawsuit questions the right of the state to prosecute people for their private relations and demands equal treatment with those living according to the beliefs.
Turley called the state's motion an effort to avoid scrutiny of a "facially unconstitutional" law.
"Under this extreme position, state officials can criminalize any private relationship while denying the right of citizens to challenge the law, even when those citizens are denounced as presumptive felons by prosecutors in the media," he said. "We will vigorously oppose the effort to close the door of the courthouse to this family."
In a declaration filed along with the attorney general's motion, Buhman wrote that he has not "publicly stated" whether he will prosecute, an indication that perhaps he has made up his mind.
Filing charges now might actually weaken the state's defense because it could lend credence to the Brown's contention that the bigamy law has limited their rights.
University of Utah law professor Paul Cassell said prosecuting the Browns now would create a "live" question about whether the law is constitutional. Federal courts are reticent to take on cases that aren't "ripe" or that lack controversy. Charges could change the tenor of the issue.
Assistant attorney general Jerrold Jensen argues in the memorandum that the Browns have not shown even a "credible threat" of prosecution because the attorney general's office does not go after polygamists unless it suspects other crimes such as child abuse. Although Utah County does not have such a policy, its track record "belies any likely prosecution."
No one in the county attorney's office could recall prosecuting anyone for polygamy, Buhman wrote.
Only three Utah polygamists since 1960 have been prosecuted under the bigamy law but only in conjunction with other crimes, according to the state's memorandum.
Court documents say the Browns were open about their polygamous lifestyle before their reality show aired and were well known to both state and county officials.
"Now, however, plaintiffs claim that because they became the subject of 'Sister Wives' and the Lehi city police reported that to the Utah County Attorney's Office that they are  now somehow the target of prosecution," the memorandum states.
Buhman's declaration said little was revealed in the police report that was not made public in the TV show's first episode last September.
The second season of "Sister Wives" is set to begin later this month on TLC. The program chronicles the lives of Kody Brown and his wives Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn and their 16 (soon to be 17) children
(Source: Deseret News)

Why Polygamists Won’t Benefit from Gay Marriage’s Success (I Hope)

I have to think that there are some gay-marriage advocates who are not pleased with Kody Brown’s decision to appeal Utah’s anti-polygamy statute. As Jonathan Turley, who is representing Brown, writes in a recent New York Times op-ed,

In his dissent in Lawrence [v. Texas], Justice Antonin Scalia said the case would mean the legalization of “bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality and obscenity.” Justice Scalia is right in one respect, though not intentionally. Homosexuals and polygamists do have a common interest: the right to be left alone as consenting adults.

I am one of those who has written about the deeply harmful effects of polygamy, particularly when it is rampant in a community, as it is in many places in Utah and New Mexico, among other states. I have written (in The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times and The Dallas Morning News) about the girls who are prevented from getting an education, the boys who are forced to leave their communities (lest they provide competition for the older men), the physical abuse, the sexual abuse, and all of the other criminal problems that come in polygamous communities. I also commend a recent piece by Brown University’s Rose McDermott in The Wall Street Journal about all of the problems that come with polygamy (she has done an international study of the problem). I’ve also talked about why it’s not feasible to simply prosecute the crimes as they occur, rather than prosecuting polygamy. (Hint: No one in these communities wants to report crimes because of the consequences they would face.)

But I’ll put that all aside for a minute and just add that I have watched Sister Wives a few times and each time I turn it off, cringing. It’s not because I find polygamy morally reprehensible, though I do. It’s because I feel sorry for these women. These episodes where Mr. Brown and his four wives are sitting on a couch seems like an attempt to show everything is fine and their family is perfectly normal. But then one of the wives starts complaining and then crying about how he is spending too much time with the other, that he finds the other more attractive, that he is spending more nights with the newer wife or whatever. It’s so degrading—even by the standards of reality TV. What are these women doing, sharing their beds with each other? I feel like playing some feminist anthem for them. And Kody Brown? A slick guy who just can’t wipe the smirk off his face. And why should he? He’s got everyone fooled.

Gay marriage has won the day with so much of the American public, I think, because gay couples look like the rest of America. I don’t think polygamists have the same advantage in their fight. And I have a hard time imagining they ever will.                           

                                                                                                                                                     

MS Note - I have to agree it's a totally different arena. An example, here's my favorite couple from the Modern Family,Mitchell and Cameron.

They are the loving, kind, and treat each other better than many married couples.

And, what a HOOT! Fisbo, you rock!! 

They don't believe in the Book of Mormon, and who's to say, their sins are any worse than ours? Only God is to judge that. Don't think they are worrying about any planets!hee hee 

Tweet

 (Source: July 25, 2011, 10:01 pm, By Naomi Schaefer Riley)