Trial Court Upholds Most of Canada’s Anti-Polygamy Law (Religion Clause blog)

Law Professor Howard Friedman reports on his Religion Clause blog:

Excerpt: In Canada, the Supreme Court of British Columbia (the province’s superior trial court) today upheld most of Canada’s anti-polygamy law (Sec. 293 of Criminal Code of Canada) against challenges to it brought under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The suit was brought as a reference case by the province’s attorney general after unsuccessful attempts to prosecute leaders of two FLDS factions. (See prior posting.)

In today’s decision, Reference re: Section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada, (B.C. Sup. Ct., Nov. 23, 2011), Chief Justice Bauman concluded that Section 293, while generally valid, is overbroad with respect to its application to children between the ages of 12 and 17. To this extent, it violates Sec. 7 of the Charter which provides: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.”

http://religionclause.blogspot.com/2011/11/trial-court-upholds-most-of-canadas.html?m=1

Polygamy central issue in Utah Attorney General race

SALT LAKE CITY — Polygamy is never far from the minds of Utahns — even when it occurs in another state.

A raid on a polygamist compound in Texas earlier this year that put more 400 kids in state custody has become one of the biggest issues in the race for Utah attorney general.

Republican Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and Democrat Jean Welch Hill both told The Associated Press that the first question they are asked by voters is always about polygamy, even as they try to focus on other issues.

. . .

Polygamy is a legacy of the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who founded Utah and remain its dominant religion. The faith abandoned the practice in 1890 as a condition of statehood, but many self-described fundamentalist Mormons still believe in the principle.

Shurtleff said the Texas raid has made it more difficult for his office to get abused polygamist women to report crimes, and he’s had to reassure polygamist communities that he isn’t prosecuting their religion.

“I think now we’ve convinced them again, ‘That’s Texas. We don’t do that here. We’ll take it a case at a time.’ Ultimately, we have to convince them they have to fear their abuser more than they do us,” he said. “We’re here to serve them, not to judge them.”

For Hill’s part, she said polygamists would never have to fear being prosecuted for their religion. She contends that the state’s bigamy statute is unconstitutional in the wake of the 2003 Supreme Court ruling Lawrence v. Texas.

That case struck down a Texas sodomy law, saying it violated the due process clause and that the state has no justifiable interest intruding into the private lives of consenting adults.

“Our bigamy law still stands, but frankly, it’s indefensible based on that ruling,” Hill said. “You can prosecute for forced marriages, but to actively prosecute a polygamist for being a polygamist? You’re not going to succeed.”

Shurtleff disagrees, saying the state’s bigamy laws would be upheld. He’s more concerned about polygamy being legalized under a court ruling in favor of gay marriage than Lawrence v. Texas.
“Once you take it to the next level of marriage and children, marriage and divorce, that’s different than having sex with who you want in the privacy of your home,” he said.

Read the full article at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/6077915.html

Polygamy: Where religious liberty ends (Salt Lake Tribune)

Trying to walk the line between religious freedom and societal concerns has never been easy. Some scholars say the line is drawn at polygamy. This article explores that option, but is the line even better drawn at child abuse? What about “legitimate” serial marriages and divorces? This issue may gain some traction in the next few months. Admin

Read the full article at http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_8908639

By Brooke Adams,
Peg McEntee
and Jessica Ravitz
The Salt Lake Tribune

For more than a century and a half, Americans have seen polygamy from a distance and through a filter of silence.
But in recent years, the view has become more distinct: a prophet in prison, jail terms for men who marry underage women, a precision raid on a ranch in west Texas. And this is where the social imperative of protecting the young and the vulnerable collides with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion.
This past week, the raid on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Eldorado, Texas, has once again brought polygamy into focus, especially among scholars and legal experts who’ve studied the phenomenon for years.
Marci Hamilton is frankly shocked it had not happened sooner.
“Nobody’s had the guts to do what Texas authorities did,” said Hamilton, a church-state scholar and attorney who lives in the Philadelphia area. “We so often ignore what’s happening to children in religious communities . . . finally a group of authorities realized they couldn’t let it go on any more.”
She has a history with abused children, particularly the sexual assault victims of priests or ministers, and she has no patience for those who argue that the autonomy and privacy of adults is more important than protecting children.

Read the full article at http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_8908639