Polygamy Ban Being Challenged In 10th Circuit Case

The Associated Press yesterday, in a widely disseminated article, discusses the briefs that have been filed in a U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals case that is challenging the constitutionality of Utah's ban on polygamy. Challengers argue that they have a deeply held religious belief that plural marriage is ordained of God and is to be encouraged and practiced. They say that the polygamy ban unconstitutionally targets one religion. The brief focuses on the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas that struck down Texas' homosexual sodomy statute as precedent for invalidating on privacy grounds Utah's polygamy laws as well.