SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - An attorney for a TV's "Sister Wives" family says the U.S. Supreme Court decision not to hear an appeal of Utah's law banning polygamy won't end the larger fight by plural and unconventional families for equal status.
Lawyer Jonathan Turley said Monday in a statement posted on his blog that he and the Brown family are disappointed but not surprised by the decision that was issued by the high court without comment.
Turley emphasized that an appeals court ruling that stands wasn't made based on the merits of the Browns' assertion that Utah's law violates their rights of speech and religion. That court found Kody Brown and his four wives can't sue over the law because they weren't charged under it.
The family says it wanted to challenge the law because the threat of prosecution still looms over them.
Utah's law forbids married people from living with a second purported "spouse," making it stricter than anti-bigamy laws in other states.
The Utah Attorney General's Office declined comment.
The high court is on a pace to hear less than 1 percent of the 7,500 appeals it is likely to receive this term.
