She was instructed by numerous courts that she had to issue marriage licenses as part of the duties of her office. She consistently refused, ultimately ignoring even the Supreme Court. The couples that had sued her asked that she be fined, but not imprisoned. A federal judge then decided that her contempt of court was not going to be curtailed by fines, and she would be jailed, just as anyone else found in contempt of court is liable to be. She wasn't sent to jail for her beliefs (though I do find it funny that a woman who's been married four times could cite beliefs in her case), her morals, her personal code of ethics, whatever. She was sent to jail because she took an oath of office, violated that oath, ignored numerous court decisions and ultimately, repeatedly, broke the law unapologetically.

 

Please consider as well that she was given the option by the judge of not issuing licenses herself, but instead agreeing not to interfere with her staff when they did. She rejected that idea. Technically, the judge could keep her in jail until she either agrees to issue marriage licenses to all couples or resigns/is impeached, but I don't quite see that happening. In fact, I think that that would be incredibly excessive and border on cruel and unusual punishment. I do believe that she should spend a week or so in the clink, long enough for the court to verify that her staff is actually issuing marriage licenses as they agreed to do, then be released with the understanding that if she chooses not to resign and still refuses to issue marriage licenses or interferes with her staff's duty to do so, she goes back to jail until she's recalled, resigns or is impeached.

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