A federal judge has thrown out parts of Utah’s state laws against bigamy.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups said that Utah’s law forbidding cohabitation with another person violated the First Amendment’s right to freedom of religion. The law said that it was illegal for a man or woman to claim they had more than one husband or wife.
Now, the only way bigamy can be prosecuted in the state is if someone tries to have more than one state-issued marriage license.
Kody Brown and his four “wives,” the stars of the TLC reality TV show “Sister Wives,” hailed the victory. They brought suit against the law in July 2011 and had to flee to Las Vegas last year after they were threatened with felony prosecution.
“Now that we’re no longer felons, that’s a huge relief,” Anne Wilde of the polygamy advocacy group Principle Voices told the AP. “They no longer have to be afraid that someone will knock at their door and take away their kids. This decision will hopefully take away the stigma of living a principle that’s a strongly held religious belief.”
The Utah Attorney General’s Office has not yet said if they will appeal.
Thousands of acres of land have been destroyed due to wildfires raging across the western US according to wildlife officials. The US Forest Service reported 62 large and uncontained fires in Idaho, Nevada, Utah and California.
