All good questions. As to couples who were shacking up, from my own family experience, would you or God for that matter prefer that these folks not get married? Same and even especially if the woman is pregnant? I am a retired and recovering divorce lawyer so I’m probably not a good person to answer the third question. I’m also Catholic and decided a couple of years ago not to file any more divorces. I don’t think that she has been issuing any licenses. I guess I’m curious as to what she is in contempt of. Indirect civil contempt is a tricky thing. I’ll be watching this closely.
I’m Catholic as well, and again I was purely playing devils advocate. I believe she should have resigned rather than continue to draw a paycheck and not fulfill her duties she was elected to do. I also think the way to go with this is from the standpoint of there is no law in Kentucky that she has violated and the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction over this, therefore no federal judge should be involved.
My point is she swore an oath to fulfill her duties as clerk and that oath means something as well. And I’m sure she has handed out marriage licenses to individuals living in sin. As a Catholic you know, if a person divorces and remarries they are committing adultery. If she issued them a license, she participated in that as well. She should have thought of all that before running for that office.