Ten Commandments Monument Trial Begins

PhillyBurbs ^ | November 12, 2003 | BOB JOHNSON - AP

[yonif]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore had "every legal right" to ignore an order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state courthouse, Moore's attorneys said Wednesday at his judicial ethics trial.

Attorney General Bill Pryor, whose office is prosecuting Moore, has asked the Court of the Judiciary to remove the chief justice for "Moore's sensational flouting of a valid federal injunction."

About 100 Moore supporters gathered on the sidewalk and plaza outside the judicial building Wednesday, some carrying "Save the Ten Commandments" signs. As Moore arrived, some women held small children up to get a glimpse.

Moore remained defiant as he entered the court building, saying the monument properly acknowledged "almighty God" and that a federal judge's order to remove the marker was unlawful based on "state sovereignty."

"I've done nothing wrong," Moore said, adding that he wished cameras would be allowed inside the courtroom.

In his opening argument, defense attorney Jim Wilson denied that U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson's order to remove the monument was valid.

"Justice Moore had every legal right to decline to obey what he deemed as an illegal order," Wilson said.

Prosecutors rested their case after about an hour, most of which was spent entering evidence. They called no witnesses, but played two videotapes depicting speeches Moore gave on Aug. 14 and Aug. 21. Moore's attorneys objected to the playing of both tapes, saying their contents already were included in written evidence.

In the Aug. 14 speech, which Moore gave six days before Thompson's deadline to remove the monument, he said he had "no intention of removing the monument."

"This I cannot and will not do," he said.

Moore moved the 5,300-pound granite monument into the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building the night of July 31, 2001.

Civil liberties groups filed suit, and Thompson ordered the monument moved, calling it an unconstitutional promotion of religion by government.

A federal appeals court upheld Thompson's order and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Moore's appeal.

The monument stayed, the deadline passed, and Moore was suspended with pay by the Judicial Inquiry Commission, which charged him with violating the Judicial Canons of Ethics. The monument was moved to a storage room.

It would take a unanimous vote to remove him from office halfway into his six-year term. He could also be reprimanded or suspended.

Moore attorney Terry Butts said the verdict could come quickly.

"We've prepared the chief justice for the worst," he said.

[Theodore R.]

A unanimous vote required. Does Moore not have even one colleague on that court who will stand with him? He must really be outside the judicial mold there in AL.

[WackyKat]

Moore attorney Terry Butts said the verdict could come quickly.

"We've prepared the chief justice for the worst," he said.

Moore is going down. But he'll be back to run for governor, which was the plan all along.

[Montfort]

Better. Let him run for Senator. We need more like him in the Senate to balance the crats and RINOs.

[rhetorica]

Actually, word on the street is that if they kick him out, he will run for Richard Shelby's Senate seat next year. Moore is the only potential candidate capable of matching Shelby in fundraising. Most Montgomery observers think Moore won't be removed but censured or suspended w/out pay for a while. Removal requires a unanamous vote. Censure or suspension, only a majority. No one thinks there will be no reprucussions.

[Dante3]

Moore is a good man. All he did was refuse to obey an illegal order.

[Old Professer]

He sinned against the brotherhood, and for that he must pay.

[Search4Truth]

This ain't over, not by a long shot.

[Sloth]

Some of the members of this court are popularly elected, so they may not want to piss off the electorate by going after Moore.