Julaine Appling, chief executive officer of the Wisconsin Family Council, said the statutes are clear and the law should be enforced.Good luck with that. The statutes Ms. Appling is referring to are meant to discourage bigamy or the marriage of first cousins except where one of the first cousins is a female over the age of 55 or where either first cousin is permanently sterile.
"If it were challenged and the courts decided to basically wink at it, and refused to enforce [sic] the law, we have a problem," she said.
Whether the statutes would find application under the Wisconsin constitution's marriage amendment is an open question and in the unlikely event a prosecutor sought to enforce them, I expect lawyers would be lining up to offer pro bono defense. And winning.
Source.*
See also: "I think we’ve been extremely tolerant in allowing them to live wherever they choose" — Julaine Appling.
* Why can't reporters ever report the statutes they're reporting on? It's Wis. Stat. § 765.04(1) and the penalty is at § 765.30(1).
7 comments:
Why can't reporters ever report the statutes they're reporting on?
Because then the readers would be informed and that would interfere with their agenda.
Fascinating post as usual, iT.
I suspect you're right that no prosecutor would be foolish enough to attempt to enforce the statute. That said, I wonder if there'd be a desuetude defense ("long and continued non-use of a law renders it invalid"). Like to think, of course, it'd never come to that, besides which I'd like to think there's a stronger argument against criminalizing in this state an act undertaken, and perfectly legal, in another state -- nothing comes immediately to mind and maybe you or one of your readers can weigh in. And perhaps you're right, that the courts would simply limit the statute's reach.
You and me oughta team up and find a test case. Maybe this guy would charge it.
Quoth the mighty and hilarious jesusijustalrightwithme:
I can think of no better way to prevent gay people from engaging in homosexual acts than to send them to prison.
Don't ban gay marriage.
Allow it.
But *do* ban gay divorce. That would make their lives a true living hell. What could be better?
(I still say the June floods are God's punishment on us for passing the no-gay-marriage amendment.)
God, please tell me Jason Haas was making a joke. Please...
Otherwise he has got to be the most ignorant, moronic fool, I have seen on the internet so far.
God is unlikely to answer your prayer requests at this venue, Anon. And obviously Jason was making a joke.
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