As a hyper-proponent of the First and Fourth amendments, it took a long time, but, after looking at the facts carefully, it is impossible not to defend and praise Texas officials for removing more than 400 children from the Yearning For Zion ranch in Eldorado, Texas, owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Look, I vigorously defend the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of religion. I also vigorously defend the Fourth Amendment that guarantees that the cops can't bust down your door without reasonable cause. However, the facts speak for themselves:

• Of the 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 who were removed from the Texas compound, 31 either already have children or are pregnant.
• Texas authorities are now saying there is evidence that boys, as well as the young girls, may have been victims of physical or sexual abuse.
• Medical examinations indicate that nearly 10 percent of the children have broken bones. In the real world, less than 1 percent of American children suffer a broken bone each year, according to one source.

These are, as Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said, members of the FLDS church who "wouldn't be in Texas if we didn't kick them out of Utah." Shurtleff defends Utah and Arizona law enforcement, which was roughed up pretty good a few days earlier by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who accused Shurtleff and his Arizona counterpart, Terry Goddard, of turning a "blind eye" to polygamy.

Warren Jeffs is the autocrat and reigning prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), a polygamous community of about 10,000 that regards itself as the one true Mormon faith. It survives much to the embarrassment of mainstream Mormons, who gave up polygamy in 1890, and much to the horror of the state.

Jeffs is either deeply creepy or downright evil depending on how you label religious leaders who consider themselves the voice of God and marry multiple women, including 30 of their late father’s youngest widows. He is infamous, among other things, for kicking hundreds of teenage boys out of his community and matching hundreds of their sisters into plural marriages. For those hooked on “Big Love,” Jeffs makes Alby Grant look appealing.

No, polygamy is not on trial. But its history is interwoven with questions of consent. Opponents to plural marriage in the 19th century included women’s rights advocates who equated polygamy with slavery. No mature woman, they believed, would voluntarily enslave herself.