[JURIST] A polygamous family on TLC’s “Sister Wives” [media website] reality TV show filed a request [cert. petition, PDF] on Monday with the US Supreme Court in an attempt to legalize polygamy. Kody Brown and his four wives filed the appeal after the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit [official website] threw out a constitutional challenge [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] to Utah’s anti-bigamy laws [text]. They specifically want the Supreme Court to review a lower court decision upholding part of Utah’s polygamy law banning cohabitation with other partners even when the man is only legally married to one woman.

In 2014 a judge for the US District Court for the District of Utah [official website] refused to dismiss the case as moot and proceeded to the merits, striking down [JURIST report] portions of Utah’s anti-bigamy statute. While polygamy is recognized in most of Africa and the Middle East, it is illegal in most of North and South America, Europe and China. In 2005 the US District Court for the District of Utah rejected a similar lawsuit [JURIST report] brought against Utah’s Anti-Bigamy Statute, reaffirming the 1879 US Supreme Court case Reynolds v. United States [opinion, text], which upheld a conviction under an anti-polygamy law as constitutional.