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Utah AG Candidates Say Voters Want To Know Their Stands On Polygamy

By Howard M. Friedman

Today's Houston Chronicle reports that the opposing candidates for state Attorney General in Utah say the question they are first asked by voters is their views on enforcing anti-polygamy statutes. Incumbent Republican Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who supported Texas authorities' raids on the FLDS compound earlier this year, says Utah should investigate and prosecute crimes associated with polygamy, such as incest, child sexual abuse and welfare fraud. However, he says, the state lacks the resources to more generally prosecute thousands of consenting adults in the state who are polygamists. His political opponent, Democrat Jean Welch Hill, says that prosecutions should be limited to other crimes associated with polygamy. She argues that Utah's general bigamy statute is unconstitutional under the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on October 25, 2008 (boomark / email).