I've read that many annulments come about during the course of folks converting or being received into full communion with the Catholic Church. And many of these folks bring a whole set of luggage with them. I've known converts with two, three failed marriages prior to conversion. Since these folks are formally converting, it seems reasonable that many of them have learned something or have repented of something that makes it possible that they may attempt marriage again.
But regarding Chappaquiddick Ted, the man's basic lack of common decency or fundamental morality should have told against granting him permission to remarry.
sitetest
I was an RCIA sponsor for a man who was then in his 50s joining the church. He and his wife, a cradle Catholic, both had previous marriages. I got to know him very well - it was like bringing my father into the Church, he was even from the same part of the Midwest - and there was no question that both of them were practically unrecognizable compared to what they had been at the time of their first marriages.
They had not received Communion since their marriage, and the whole congregation at the Easter Vigil was sniffling when they went up together.
To be honest, I sometimes wonder if I’m “really” married, in spite of the assurance from some very respectable priests. But in the case of Ted Kennedy, good gravy, a sociopath is incapable of contracting Christian matrimony ... maybe even of legal marriage. Being stone cold nuts is always an exception.