• Biblical Families is not a dating website. It is a forum to discuss issues relating to marriage and the Bible, and to offer guidance and support, not to find a wife. Click here for more information.

Legal aspect of Poly in Montana

James Pease

James Pease

Seasoned Member
Real Person
Male
I thought I would share some cool info I found a few months ago. I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with the case of Nathan Collier challenging the Supreme court for 2 marriage licenses in 2015. When I looked further into it I found this article which gives the state's response. To paraphrase, they said, by living as a married couple even calling each other husband and wife, that they were not breaking the law. They even attempted to contract a second marriage license and Montana does not deem that to be criminal. The only thing criminal is obtaining a second license.


The article is pretty cool and a great resource for me here in MT because it show that im not "breaking" the law. Also it means that even if anyone is prosecuted for Polygamy, that the Nathan Collier case would reopen because the case was denied on sufficient evidence of prosecution of the law. If they prosecute anyone, the Collier's then have a valid case.
 
Last edited:
This is actually technically the state of the law in every state due to Lawrence v Texas. However, as Justice Thomas has previously hinted, the repeal of Roe v Wade opens the door for the overturning of a wide variety of rulings that were significantly based on the false privacy assertion of RvW. This includes not only gay marriage and contraceptives but the prohibition against prosecuting cohabitation interpolated from LvT. Each of these cases will be challenged, which is why it is now even more the case that Texas has the greatest opportunity to be the first state to decriminalize plural marriages given that LvT technically only applies to Texas, even though the entire country rolled over on cohabitation at the time of the ruling.

Three bottom lines:

1. No state is going to prosecute polygamy absent evidence of pedophilia; but
2. Minus a successful court case or active decriminalization by some state legislature, there is little hope that those engaging in plural marriage are going to experience a culture in which any family can be entirely open about their situation without significant stigma; and
3. In the context of #1, the courts will deftly decline to hear such cases, because to bring one technically requires 'standing,' which means that some tangible harm has been done to at least one individual at the hands of a governmental entity (which has also not been overruled subsequently by a higher governmental entity), and at this point no state is going to uphold active punishment for polygamy; it's therefore a stalemate based on competing legal ramifications and the generalized desire to sweep polygamy under the rug in order to maintain the monogamy-only illusion.

Anyway, I'm happy any time someone feels more comfortable in their particular state, but, if one searches the legal records in any state, one is almost certain to find evidence of the same kind of thing going on in each state. I maintain that the number one reason why polygamy hasn't entirely become a complete Ho Hum is the perpetuation of clinging to lust for approval from the world on the part of individuals within families that believe in biblical polygyny. Paraphrasing Pogo, we have met the enemy, and the enemy is us.
 
James Pease said:
I thought I would share some cool info I found a few months ago. I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with the case of Nathan Collier challenging the Supreme court for 2 marriage licenses in 2015. When I looked further into it I found this article which gives the state's response. To paraphrase, they said, by living as a married couple even calling each other husband and wife, that they were not breaking the law. They even attempted to contract a second marriage license and Montana does not deem that to be criminal. The only thing criminal is obtaining a second license.


The article is pretty cool and a great resource for me here in MT because it show that im not "breaking" the law. Also it means that even if anyone is prosecuted for Polygamy, that the Nathan Collier case would reopen because the case was denied on sufficient evidence of prosecution of the law. If they prosecute anyone, the Collier's then have a valid case.
Click to expand...
Oh wow, that's interesting, another reason I want to move to Montana now lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top