Free Republic

As most Americans were thinking thoughts of Christmas cheer, a federal judge in Utah dropped a bomb on the institution of marriage, striking down the most crucial sections of the Utah statute outlawing polygamy. Last Friday, Judge Clark Waddoups of the United States District Court in Utah ruled that Utah’s anti-polygamy law is unconstitutional, violating the free exercise clause of the First Amendment as well as the guarantee of due process.In one sense, the decision was almost inevitable, given the trajectory of both the culture and the federal courts. On the other hand, the sheer shock of the decision serves...

Once you blow up a societal consensus it cannot be easily reconstructed to protect only those practices or beliefs you like while still banning those you think ought to be kept beyond the pale. That’s the upshot of a case decided late on Friday in a Federal District Court in Salt Lake City, Utah that essentially decriminalized polygamy. The case, Brown v. Buhman, which was brought by the stars of Sister Wives, a TLC cable channel reality show depicting the life of a man with four wives and 17 children, who challenged the Utah statute that not only prohibited marriage...

In a game-changer for the legal fight over same-sex marriage that gives credence to opponents’ “slippery slope” arguments, a federal judge has now ruled that the legal reasoning for same-sex marriage means that laws against polygamy are likewise unconstitutional. In his 91-page opinion in Brown v. Buhman, on Dec. 13, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups struck down Utah’s law making polygamy a crime. In so doing, he may have opened Pandora’s Box. As a condition for becoming a state in 1896, Congress required Utah to outlaw polygamy, which is marriage between three or more persons. This case involved a family...

The fallout continues for the Brown family of TLC’s “Sister Wives.” After the cable television series debuted Sept. 26, Meri Brown, of Lehi, lost her job. “They felt that they needed to protect the company, I think,” Meri said in an episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that aired Thursday. “It actually makes me really sad because I loved my job. It breaks my heart, definitely. ... But I understand where they’re coming from.” “Sister Wives” chronicles the lives of Kody Brown; his wives Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn; and their 16 children. The final two half-hour episodes of the...

If you want to see another blatant example of social activism at the expense of traditional marriage, go no further than The Learning Channel (TLC). Part of TLC’s knowledge-enhancing program lineup is the show featuring polygamist Kody Brown and his ever-growing, Utah-based harem of “Sister Wives.” The show is spun as a unique look at a non-traditional family that faces the same struggles as regular folks and manages to make it through life with strong bonds of love and respect. That sounds really nice doesn’t it? The truth of this dysfunctional group and their attempts at TV stardom are much...

Kody Brown is a proud polygamist, and a relatively famous one. Now Mr. Brown, his four wives and 16 children and stepchildren are going to court to keep from being punished for it. The family is the focus of a reality TV show, “Sister Wives,” that first appeared in 2010. Law enforcement officials in the Browns’ home state, Utah, announced soon after the show began that the family was under investigation for violating the state law prohibiting polygamy. On Wednesday, the Browns are expected to file a lawsuit to challenge the polygamy law. The lawsuit is not demanding that states...