Law professor Jonathan Turley filed suit against Utah’s polygamy ban today in an effort to defy the state’s investigation of an openly polygamous family that stars on the reality show “Sister Wives.”

Turley is the lead attorney for the Brown family – Kody Brown, his four wives and 16 children and stepchildren. They filed suit in Salt Lake City’s District Court Wednesday.

Kody Brown is legally married to only one of his four wives, but the other three co-habit with the family as “spiritual spouses.” Utah officials began looking into investigating the family when “Sister Wives” aired on TLC last year. Utah’s law prohibits a married person from cohabiting with another person.

Turley did not return requests for comment, but said in a press release: “We believe that this case represents the strongest factual and legal basis for a challenge to the criminalization of polygamy ever filed in the federal courts. We are not demanding the recognition of polygamous marriage. We are only challenging the right of the state to prosecute people for their private relations and demanding equal treatment with other citizens in living their lives according to their own beliefs.”

The lawsuit argues that the state’s polygamy ban violates the Browns’ due process and equal protection under the 14th amendment, but will also try to find safeguards in the Supreme Court’s 2003 ruling in “Lawrence v. Texas,” which struck down state sodomy laws and protects “intimate conduct” between adults.

“It is a challenge designed to benefit not just polygamists but all citizens who wish to live their lives according to their own values – even if those value run counter to those of the majority of the state,” Turley said.