I agree with your explanation.
LEt’s go one step further.
A Federal judge cannot demand that the deputy clerks issue any marriage license, as Kentucky law is very clear—only a state judge or a county clerk can issue a license. And Kim Davis has not delegated that authority to anyone else.
Ergo, the license are being issued under fraudulent means, under no authority, and completely illegally.
Actually she has tried. She asked the KY legislature to make it so her signature would no longer be required to issue a license and they never did it. Her religious objection is based on the fact that the KY statue requires that the elected County Clerk sign every marriage license and she does not want her name affixed to a homosexual marriage.
Her legal team is not raising the issues on this thread. They are sticking to the First Amendment issues.
My position is that even if someone else could issue the license, the license is invalid because Marriage as a state approved institution no longer exists in Kentucky (Thank you Justice Kennedy - may God have mercy on your soul).