Supreme Court declines polygamy case
The husband of three wives claimed the court's landmark ruling on gays applies to polygamists.
posted February 27, 2007
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There has been no shortage of other challenges as per Justice Scalia's warning, but the high court has so far avoided revisiting the 2003 landmark. In declining to take Holm's case, the justices offered no explanation.
Holm is a member of a religious group that practices polygamy as a tenet of their faith.
"They are the philosophical, and often biological, descendants of early Mormons who refused to compromise their religious principles in the face of the most extreme form of coercion," wrote Holm's other lawyer, Rodney Parker of Salt Lake City, in his petition to the court.
Although polygamy was once accepted, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints banned the practice in 1890.
The issue arose recently on the presidential campaign trail with the Associated Press reporting over the weekend that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney had a great-grandfather who had five wives and a great-great-grandfather with 12 wives.
Mr. Romney, a Mormon, says he is opposed to polygamy. He has been married for 37 years to his high school sweetheart. But prejudice against Mormons might hurt Romney's chances in a run for the White House, some analysts say.
The Holm case arrived at the Supreme Court after the Utah resident was convicted of violating the state's bigamy law and of having unlawful sexual contact with a minor. Holm was charged after his third wife – then age 16 – moved into his house with his two other wives and children following an unlicensed religious marriage ceremony.
The third wife was the younger sister of Holm's first wife.
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