Concerned Women for America - Roy Moore, Chief Justice No More

Search for on

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Home

Click here

Roy Moore, Chief Justice No More 11/14/2003
By Martha Kleder

Battle for the Ten Commandments continues.

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was banished from the bench by a judicial panel this week for defying a federal court order to remove the Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Judicial Building.

The nine-member panel's unanimous decision is the harshest penalty possible.

“I have absolutely no regrets. I have done what I have sworn to do,” Moore told supporters outside the Montgomery, Alabama, courthouse following the decision. “It’s about whether or not you can acknowledge God as a source of our law and our liberty. That’s all I’ve done.”

Noting the controversy surrounding Moore’s actions in support of his beliefs, CWA’s Vice President for Government Relations Michael Schwartz said:

We need to go back to the underlying issue, which is the unconstitutional order of Judge Myron Thompson.

That order put the government of Alabama in an impossible position. Chief Justice Moore felt he could not in good conscience obey the order to remove the Ten Commandments from the judicial building. On the other hand, the governor of Alabama felt compelled to obey an order from a federal judge.

Many side issues have divided the Christian community on this case, so we must remember that the true enemy here is the judicial tyranny that is forcing a secular religion on our public life and discourse. That is the battle we need to focus on.

As for the judicial panel’s decision, Liberty Counsel President Mat Staver said the ruling did not address the Ten Commandments issue, only Alabama canons and judicial ethics.

“It is not a case about the public display of the Ten Commandments in the State Judicial Building nor the acknowledgement of God,” reads the final judgment. “Indeed, we recognize that the acknowledgement of God is very much a vital part of the public and private fabric of our country.”

Moore could run again for chief justice

Moore can appeal the ruling to the Alabama Supreme Court. If Justice Moore loses there, Gov. Bob Riley will appoint a new chief justice to finish out Moore’s term, which ends in 2007. Since chief justices are elected, Moore could run for the seat again as long as he is not disbarred.

Meanwhile, the battle continues to preserve the right of communities to publicly display the Ten Commandments. On the same day as the Alabama judicial panel’s ruling, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided that a Ten Commandments monument at the Texas State Capitol in Austin does not violate the constitution.

Lawmakers in Washington are proposing legislation in response to a growing grassroots backlash against the forces of secularism.

Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Alabama) has introduced the “Ten Commandments Defense Act” ( H.R. 2045), which clarifies that the Constitution permits public placement of the Ten Commandments.

Rep. Charles Pickering (R-Mississippi) has introduced the “Safeguarding Our Religious Liberties Act” (H.R. 3190). This bill would strip the federal courts of jurisdiction on matters of religious freedom such as the display of the Ten Commandments, the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, and the National Motto of “In God We Trust,” leaving jurisdiction to the states.

Other, stronger bills defending the Ten Commandments and religious freedom are in the works and could be introduced in the weeks ahead, congressional sources say.

Martha Kleder is a policy analyst for the Culture & Family Institute, an affiliate of Concerned Women for America.