There are still US laws like this?

Michigan really is a nanny state, huh? Just asking.

People who cheat on their spouses know there can be a steep price to pay if they get caught. But life in prison?

It's possible in Michigan, though unlikely.

In a footnote to a ruling involving a drugs-for-sex case, a Michigan appeals court said that if state law were enforced as written, adulterers could be put away for life.

The ruling has generated a little unwanted publicity for Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who acknowledged an extramarital affair in 2005.

Adultery is a crime under Michigan law, punishable by a short prison sentence, but no one has been prosecuted for the offense since 1971. And the voters did not hold Cox's infidelity against him, electing him to a second term last year.

(read more)