Legality of Utah's ban on polygamy challenged

Washington Times ^ | 2/02/04 | AP

[kattracks]

SALT LAKE CITY (AP)

[BenLurkin]

Look out - here it comes!

Our societal collapse is accelerating.

[clee1]

Amen. The end of our Republic is at hand.

[FormerACLUmember]

When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Texas' law against sodomy last year, at least one justice foresaw the likes of Brian Barnard. Justice Antonin Scalia warned that the ruling would unleash a wave of challenges to state laws against "bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality and obscenity."

Scalia: the smartest and most honest judge on thew Supreme Court.

[breakem]

uh, actually I think polygamy was legal in Utah before it became a state. The federal government pressured the territory and the thus the Mormon church to change their religiouc precepts in order to gain admission. An obvious violation of the powers reserved for states.

[breakem]

Which of those appealing to the USSC is he hunting with this week?

[BenR2]

Look out - here it comes!
Our societal collapse is accelerating.

/////////////
Does "Heads on Spikes" still post here?

Somehow your post brings that image to mind.

[xJones]

Paging White Mountain....

[clee1]

Uh, actually I knew that. My stepfamily are Mormons.

The (modern) Mormons explain that polygamy was a practice of convenience; it allowed widowed women to retain the property of their dead husbands in a time when women didn't own property. The LDS Church says that this was a rare practice, and even more rarely did progeny and communal living of several "families" result.

LDS dogma suggests that the practice had pretty much died out before Utah's entrance into the Union - it remained "legal" until the Feds leaned on them to outlaw it in their new State Constitution.

The weird splinter groups and LDS-based "cults" are taking a secular practice of the early church and somehow proclaiming that it is a featured part of LDS Doctrine. It isn't.

My point is that, as predicted by Scalia, there will be a rush to legitimise all sorts of immoral practices by courts. If that happens, (and IMHO it will) the Republic will be torn assunder; The first Civil War will have been a day at the beach, by comparison.

Remember, you heard it here first.

[ChicagoHebrew]

Our societal collapse is accelerating.

My god! Those immoral heathans! Just like Abraham, Jacob, David and Soloman...

[breakem]

On what basis do you declare polygamy immoral.

Regardless of the frequency of the practice, I believe my original statement is accurate.<p.Scalia should be worried about the abuse of federal power and freedom and not what the federal government thinks is moral or immoral.

[Viking2002]

When the moral, cultural, and ethical baselines of our communities are neutralized by malcontents and activist judges, then our society will be reduced to anarchy.

[mcg1969]

Ah, but breakem, that's what he is worried about. The federal government has no right overruling these states' morality laws. Constitutionally it is barred from doing so, and yet the liberal side of the court has somehow managed to convince themselves that that doesn't matter. They've conveniently had to ignore the Constitutional provisions for states' rights and invent a right to privacy that isn't on the books in order to do it, but there you go.

[mcg1969]

Duh, silly me, I think I'm preaching to the choir. Sorry, I misinterpreted your last post and didn't head to your original one for context.

[breakem]

I think conservatives then must ban together to show those liberals that we can corrupt the constitution more than they.

[breakem]

Don't set too high of a standard for careful reading, we'll lose 50% of the clientele. Lol!

[mcg1969]

Not sure what you mean, here, breakem. I mean, there is nothing unconstitutional about morality laws. Debatable, yes, unconstitutional, no... am I still confused about your point?

[breakem]

my point is about the power and role of the federal government

[mcg1969]

OK, but you suggested that conservatives are corrupting the Constitution too, so I'm curious what in particular you might be referring to there.