Admission of Utah: Limitation of State Sovereignty by Compact With the United States; An Opinion (Classic Reprint) - Tapa blanda

Excerpt from Admission of Utah: Limitation of State Sovereignty by Compact With the United States; An Opinion

I have been requested to give my opinion on the Constitutional validity of certain clauses in the proposed State Constitution for Utah relating to polygamy and bigamy.

These clauses are the following:

Art. XV. - Sec. 12. Bigamy and polygamy being considered incompatible with "a republican form of government," each of them is hereby forbidden and declared a misdemeanor.

Any person who shall violate this section shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000 and imprisonment for a term not less than six months nor more than three years, in the discretion of the Court. This section shall be construed as operative without the aid of legislation and the offences prohibited by this section shall not be barred by any statute of limitation within three years after the commission of the offence; nor shall the power of pardon extend thereto until such pardon shall be approved by the President of the United States.

It will thus be seen that this provision requires for its operation no legislation whatever, but that indictments can be found under it and punishments inflicted, and the pardoning power in respect to the offence is limited by a check in the hands of the President of the United States.

This Constitution contains an article prescribing the manner in which amendments must be framed and adopted. But the power of amendment is limited by the following proviso, expressly drawn and devised so as to prevent any amendment or change in the anti-polygamy section without the assent of Congress:

Provided, That Section 12 of Article XV. shall not be amended, revised, or in any way changed until any amendment, revision or change, as proposed therein shall, in addition to the requirements of the provisions of this article, be reported to the Congress of the United States and shall be by Congress approved and ratified and such approval and ratification be proclaimed by the President of the United States, and if not so ratified and proclaimed, said section shall remain perpetual.

My opinion has been requested upon the question whether the proposed check on the pardoning power, which this Constitution would vest in the hands of the President of the United States in the case of an offence prohibited by a State Constitution, and the proposed limitation on the power of amending the Constitution in regard to the polygamy and bigamy denounced by Section 12 of Article XV., are consistent with or repugnant to our system of government.

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