Yes, I think it will become legal at some point. Wouldn't want to guess when though.
It is legal, to a limited degree, in South Africa. The relevance here is that liberal US Supreme Court justices like Ginsberg have made statements to the effect that they think the South African constitution is superior to the US constitution. And the SA equivalent of the Supreme court, the Constitutional Court, has OK'd both Gay Marriage (enthusiastically) and limited polygamy (reluctantly, but still OK'd).
It's limited in the sense that polygamy is only allowed for certain groups that have practiced it formally for some time and where it is acceptable to the community they come from. In effect this means it's limited to Black African members of certain tribes (e.g, Zulu's). Interestingly it's not allowed for Muslims since the Muslim authorities in the country are strongly opposed to plural marriages (i.e. The practice does not have community support).
The problem with the above is that there is inevitably going to be a case where somebody not from those certain tribes gets it into his head that he wants to marry multiple women, and ends up in the Constitutional Court claiming that, in not being allowed to do so, he is being discriminated against based on his race, religion or another protected class. In my opinion he'd be right. If one person has a right, everyone should have that right baring very extraordinary circumstances.
But back to the US. It would seem unlikely since both conservative and liberal justices are likely to be against the practice, but I think the tide will turn. First challenge is likely to come from a religious Muslim who declares his religious right to marry 4 wives. And once this is granted, the claim will be that if the Muslim guy can do it, then so can everyone.
It is legal, to a limited degree, in South Africa. The relevance here is that liberal US Supreme Court justices like Ginsberg have made statements to the effect that they think the South African constitution is superior to the US constitution. And the SA equivalent of the Supreme court, the Constitutional Court, has OK'd both Gay Marriage (enthusiastically) and limited polygamy (reluctantly, but still OK'd).
It's limited in the sense that polygamy is only allowed for certain groups that have practiced it formally for some time and where it is acceptable to the community they come from. In effect this means it's limited to Black African members of certain tribes (e.g, Zulu's). Interestingly it's not allowed for Muslims since the Muslim authorities in the country are strongly opposed to plural marriages (i.e. The practice does not have community support).
The problem with the above is that there is inevitably going to be a case where somebody not from those certain tribes gets it into his head that he wants to marry multiple women, and ends up in the Constitutional Court claiming that, in not being allowed to do so, he is being discriminated against based on his race, religion or another protected class. In my opinion he'd be right. If one person has a right, everyone should have that right baring very extraordinary circumstances.
But back to the US. It would seem unlikely since both conservative and liberal justices are likely to be against the practice, but I think the tide will turn. First challenge is likely to come from a religious Muslim who declares his religious right to marry 4 wives. And once this is granted, the claim will be that if the Muslim guy can do it, then so can everyone.