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‘Sister Wives’ ask judge to rule bigamy unlawful

Posted at 5:50 PM, Aug 31, 2012
and last updated 2012-08-31 19:50:27-04

SALT LAKE CITY — A reality TV show polygamist and his wives are asking a federal judge to rule Utah’s bigamy law unlawful.

In papers filed Friday in U.S. District Court and obtained by FOX 13, lawyers for Kody Brown and his four wives ask a judge to declare Utah’s bigamy code unlawful under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, which provide for freedom of religion and equal protection of the law.

“While conceding that the law can no longer be justified on the basis of upholding ‘good order and morals of society,’ the (state of Utah) simply claims conclusorily that polygamy represents a social harm without addressing (the Brown’s) express refutation of this claim,” the Brown family’s lawyer, Jonathan Turley, wrote.

The Browns filed a lawsuit against the state, seeking to overturn the ban on polygamy. A hearing has been scheduled for January.