Excuse me for lecturing lawyers on the law, but "unusual" and "illegal" are not synonyms:
SAN ANGELO, Texas - Lawyers for a polygamist sect that is the subject of a massive child-abuse investigation argued in court Wednesday that although its members' multiple marriages and cloistered ways may be unusual, they have a right to their faith and privacy.
Gerry Goldstein, a San Antonio lawyer representing the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also told a judge that the search of the temple in the sect's West Texas compound is analagous to a law enforcement search of the Vatican or other holy places.
There is something spooky, though, about reading of another Texas religious compound invaded by authorities. And it's an interesting question about the Vatican. Suppose there were credible evidence that, say, 75 percent of the world's cocaine traffic originated withing its boundaries. How would it be handled and by whom? We should probably also remind Mr. Goldstein that the Vatican is a recognized national territory, unlike the compound in Texas.
