Denver, USA - A Utah couple and a woman who wants to become the man's second wife are asking a federal appeals court to overturn Utah's ban on polygamy.
A Salt Lake County clerk refused to issue them a marriage license in December 2003. A federal judge later dismissed their lawsuit, rejecting arguments that Utah's law violates the privacy, association and religious rights of people who believe in plural marriage.
Now a three-judge federal panel has accepted written arguments in the case. The trio's lawyer says that under their religion doctrine, "a man having more than one wife is ordained of God and is to be encouraged and practiced."
Polygamy has been practiced in Utah since the 1800s, when Mormons settled the Salt Lake valley. The faith officially abandoned the practice in 1890, but it continues among splinter groups.