“Not quite. The Utah decision does not recognize, in Santorum’s words, a “right to polygamy.” The judge said the right to not be discriminated against under the First and Fourteenth amendments applies to the plaintiffs.
The family of Kody Brown, subject of the TLC reality show Sister Wives, says it is polygamist because it belongs to a fundamentalist Mormon church. The Browns sued Utah in 2011, arguing that the anti-polygamy law violated their right to privacy based on the Lawrence decision. Bigamy, or having multiple active marriage licenses, is a third-degree felony in Utah. Utah outlawed the practice, prevalent among Mormons, so Congress would accept it as a state in 1896. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints banned polygamy in 1890.)
If Utah doesn’t prosecute an adulterer for sleeping with several women, the judge wrote, why should it prosecute a polygamist doing the same under one roof?
In other words, Utah polygamists can’t be discriminated against now, but they still can’t get married.”
Not yet, at least.
In other words, Utah polygamists can’t be discriminated against now, but they still can’t get married.”
No, they can’t have multiple marriage licenses. They will still cohabit as if married because in their minds they are.