Viet-Justice

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning has decided he wants to invade the bedroom of a couple by charging the husband for having sex with his wife. Ok the story is a little weird since it involves a 22-year old male and a now 14-year old female. They were legally married in Kansas, but AG Bruning is going out of his way to disregard the laws of other states.

He said the marriage is valid, thanks to the “ridiculous” Kansas law, “but it doesn’t matter. I’m not going to stand by while a grown man … has a relationship with a 13-year-old — now 14-year-old — girl.”

The legal age for marriage in Kansas with parental consent is 12 for females and 14 for males. In this case the girl’s mother consented to the marriage and both families are hoping to make something work. AG Bruning is making a very big mistake here. We are a country of laws. Any attorney should be enforcing the law of the land no matter how “ridiculous”. If Kansas law is sooo “ridiculous” perhaps Bruning should run for office in Kansas and have the law changed.

Southern states have traditionally allowed marriage an very young ages due to the fact that they were once farming states. People getting married at 12 or 13 was not uncommon 100 years ago. I remember people getting married at 13 or 14 when I was in high school. It is unfortunate that poor families have to marry up the social ladder, out of poverty in rural communities, but this has been going on for hundreds of years. Often girls marry someone 5+ years older and well meaning parents seem to feel that marrying their daughter off to someone who is established in their careerand will be able to provide a life of less poverty is a reasonable solution. Finding romance in marriage is a post WWII artifact that has taken hold in our society in a very short time. This is just a historical artifact that may or may not be outdated for the rural parts of the country.

Either way, AG Bruning needs to take a break. It’s nice of him to leave his contact info on his web site so we can tell him what an idiot he is for interfering with Kansas law. It’s even nicer that he has an 800 number so we don’t have to pay to give him a piece of our minds.

Attorney General Jon Bruning
2115 State Capital
Lincoln NE 68509
800-727-6432
Email