Last year, United States District Court Judge Clarke Waddoups handed down his final ruling in favor of my clients in the Sister Wives case. Utah Attorney General, Sean Reyes filed his notice of appeal in the case — a move that now takes this historic case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver and potentially to the Supreme Court.
Previously, Judge Waddoups handed down an historic ruling striking down key portions of the Utah polygamy law as unconstitutional.
The argument this morning will occur at 8:30 am in Courtroom III.
Updated: the argument today was vigorous and all of the judges asked highly probative questions to both sides. The government has conceded that it has waived any defense to “hybrid” constitutional claims on appeal. The panel pressed both parties on mootness and standing issues. One surprise was that the government announced that the legislature is now considering a change to the statutory language of the cohabitation provision. Whether this would change the case or even moot the appeal is still unclear since we have not seen the language.
I ran from the courthouse to switch flights to a departure today due to the winter storm. I just arrived at the Denver airport so I will not be able to post anything additional for a while. This flight appears my one hope of making it back before the storm hits.