Thursday, July 24, 2008

You Can Do That?

We're going to start a new thing here at Everybody called "You Can Do That?"

Now, since my formal training in The Law consists of  my having watched Judd, For the Defense when I was little, and 12 Angry Men when I was not, all I can do is post important legal questions here at Everybody and hope for the best.  I do know of at least a couple of lawyers who check in here from time to time so let's see if this works...

We are, by now, all familiar with this article which appeared in the July 11, 2008 edition of the  Los Angeles Times which we excerpt here:

In his 2002 memoir, "Worth the Fighting For," McCain wrote that he had separated from Carol McCain before he began dating (Cindy) Hensley.
"I spent as much time with Cindy in Washington and Arizona as our jobs would allow," McCain wrote. "I was separated from Carol, but our divorce would not become final until February of 1980."
An examination of court documents tells a different story. McCain did not sue his wife for divorce until Feb. 19, 1980, and he wrote in his court petition that he and his wife had "cohabited" until Jan. 7 of that year -- or for the first nine months of his relationship with Hensley.
Although McCain suggested in his autobiography that months passed between his divorce and remarriage, the divorce was granted April 2, 1980, and he wed Hensley in a private ceremony five weeks later. McCain obtained an Arizona marriage license on March 6, 1980, while still legally married to his first wife.

So,  with respect to the statement in bold, the question is: You can do that?  Legally, I mean.  You can get a marriage license to marry Woman B while you are still legally married to Woman A?  That doesn't seem very "Family Valuey" to me, but who am I to question the good people of Arizona?  If that's the law there, that's the law there.  But is it?  If it is not,  McCain's a fraud.   And a lawbreaker.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I dunno, Richard. I steer clear of that divorce stuff, know what I’m sayin’?

gmanitou said...

Rich,

It is only illegal if you get caught. I mean who would catch you. Well nobody but a bunch of blogging whinners and they keep the topic alive on the blogsphere until someone actually looks up the statute and ays, "Wait.....the wedding license was invalid because he was married and so he is unlawfully cohabitating, hey cool, he is one of us, stupid and amoral." Uh this didn't go where it should have. Nevermind.

Nomi said...

I am Pro-Catholic, but admittedly ignorant of many R.C. teachings.

Nonetheless: The annulment that Ted Kennedy received prior to his marriage to Victoria was noteworthy. Ted's children (including RI's congressman, Patrick) were fairly grown when the annulment was granted.

I know people who were denied annulments despite waiting for years...