Sometimes, you just can’t have it all.
Such is the case for Kody Brown and his four wives, who all star on TLC’s Sister Wives.
Janelle, Christine, Robyn and Meri learned on Friday that a federal appeals court had “denied a request to reconsider its earlier dismissal of a decision that decriminalized polygamy in Utah, according to The Salt Lake Tribute.
Last month, three judges on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Co ruled that the Browns could not sue the state for banning polygamy.
The Browns had requested a rehearing, but on May 13th the judges were like “nope. No thumbs up on plural marriages.”
What to do when the justice system tries to get in the way of a good time?
Take it national.
The family’s attorney, Jonathan Turley stated that the reality stars would take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“While disappointed, the Brown family remains committed to this case and the struggle for equal rights for all families in Utah,” Turley said.
The Browns sued the state of Utah in 2011, “alleging the state’s bigamy law violated their constitutional right to privacy by prohibiting them from living together and that the law criminalized their sexual relationships.”
A Police investigation forced the family to move from Lehi, Utah to Nevada in order to avoid prosecution.
In 2013. a judge gave the Browns a break by striking down the cohabitation portion of the bigamy law, stating that it forced the family “to leave Utah and violated their rights to privacy and religious freedom.”
“The 10th Circuit panel ruled that a prosecutor can publicly declare a family to be felons, keep them under criminal investigation, and denounce them for their religious beliefs without fear of being held accountable in a court of law,” Turley said.
Utah law, according to the Tribute states that “people are guilty of third-degree felony bigamy if they hold multiple marriage licenses or if, when already married, they cohabit with another consenting adult in a marriage-like relationship.”
tl;dr – polygamy is still illegal.
