The chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who was removed from office for defying the Constitution and a federal court order is one of 14 major candidates running for the Republican nomination for the presidency.
Alabama's Court of the Judiciary unanimously had ordered Roy S. Moore removed from office in November 2003 after he refused to remove from the judiciary building rotunda a 5,280 pound granite monument to the Ten Commandments. Around its base were extracts from the Declaration of Independence, quotes from the Founding Fathers, and the National Anthem. The three foot square by four foot tall monument was funded by private contributions.
As circuit judge, Moore had placed onto the wall of his courtroom a wooden Ten Commandments plaque he had carved, and opened each court session with a Protestant prayer. He also had defied a Circuit Court ruling to remove the plaque and to cease prayers. A suit filed in the Alabama Supreme Court was dismissed for technical reasons, and Moore said he would continue to hold prayers before court.
His campaign for Chief Justice, supported by the Christian Family Association, was to return "God to our public life and restore the moral foundation of our law." On July 31, 2001, about six months after he was inaugurated as chief justice, Moore personally supervised the installation of the granite monument, stating that the Supreme Court needed something grander than the wooden plaque in the Circuit Court. In the subsequent lawsuit, Glassroth v. Moore, the chief justice, using the words of the Alabama Constitution, argued "in order to establish justice we must invoke "the favor and guidance of almighty God.'" The Ten Commandments, he said, are the "moral foundation" of American law; the presence of the monument recognizes "the sovereignty of God." What Moore didn't state is that Exodus and Deuteronomy have different versions, and subsequent Christian religions have at least three versions. It is a Protestant version that was carved into the granite.
The federal court ruled that placement of the monument, and Moore's repeated statements that the monument represented God's sovereignty over all matters judicial and moral, violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. That decision was upheld by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
With strong popular support, Moore said not only were the courts' rulings illegal, but that he would continue to defy them. Moore frequently cited the Alabama Constitution that justice was determined by "involving the favor and guidance of Almighty God." The message sent to the citizens was that it's acceptable to disregard two centuries of legal history that gave the federal constitution supremacy over states, and to violate federal law if you disagree with it. For a citizen to do so carries penalties; for a judge to do so carries removal from office.
Reflecting upon the case, Moore told rockthecapital.com that even eight years after his removal from office, he "would still make the same decision." The role of government, says Moore, "is to secure those rights that [a Christian] God has given us."
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