Posted on 11/06/2017 10:20:34 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
For quite some time now conservative Republicans have been screaming about activist judges who put their own political opinions above the law. And they've been right to complain. But now, thanks to socially conservative voters in Alabama, we learn that they didn't really mean it. What bothered them weren't activist judges in general -- just liberal activist judges. Conservative activism by a judge who gets his marching orders from the Bible is fine.
Republican social conservatives in Alabama, many of them evangelical Christians, elected former state judge Roy Moore as their nominee to run next month for the United States Senate seat currently held by Luther Strange, a conservative Republican who, in their view, wasn't conservative enough.
And it didn't bother those who voted for Moore that when it comes to activism on the bench, he not only makes no apologies for his disrespect for the rule of law, he pretty much brags about it.
In 2003, Moore was ousted as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary for refusing an order from a federal judge to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments from the grounds of the state judicial building -- a monument Judge Moore himself had commissioned.
Did the judge learn a lesson about going too far, about brushing aside a higher court's order simply because he didn't agree with it? You tell me.
In 2012, he was elected chief justice again. And again, he was removed from the bench. In 2016, he directed county officials in Alabama to ignore a ruling -- this time by the Supreme Court of the United States -- on same-sex marriage. The high court had ruled that banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Judge Moore disagreed, so he told county officials not to issue any same-sex marriage licenses.
It's understandable that many social conservatives think that government grounds are the perfect place to install a monument to the Ten Commandments -- and that same-sex marriage is immoral and therefore should also be illegal. But we don't live in a theocracy, as much as many on the hard right wish we did. We live by the rule of law, which is what those same social conservatives have been preaching for many years.
But Judge Roy Moore is their folk hero, so he's the kind of activist judge they want to be their next U.S. senator.
We've apparently come to a point in this country where the purists on both the extreme right and the extreme left are incapable of holding two opposing thoughts in their head at the same time. For them, it's virtually impossible to believe that Judge Moore is right about religion but at the same time is wrong to flout the law. For the sanctimonious on the other side, it's virtually impossible to believe that while white supremacists hold horrid views they have the right to express them without being shouted down, or worse. I recently saw a sign at a rally that said, "Hate Speech is Not Free Speech." Except, it is.
It's no secret that we're a deeply divided nation, and have been for a while now. The realist in me worries that it's going to get worse before it gets better. That is, if it does get better.
Re: “In 2016, he directed county officials in Alabama to ignore a ruling — this time by the Supreme Court of the United States — on same-sex marriage. The high court had ruled that banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Judge Moore disagreed, so he told county officials not to issue any same-sex marriage licenses.”
So, the writer complains that when a liberal activist Supreme court finds the Constitution “upholds” same-sex marriage, and a real constitutional judge ignores their ruling, he’s being activist? Who ignored the rule of law? The Supreme Court or Moore? I say it wasn’t Moore.
Any court that makes an activist ruling rather than a Constitutional ruling SHOULD be ignored..
Roy Moore is a good guy, an outsider just like Donald Trump.
We need both of them in Washington.
The whole point of the article is moot. He’s not running to become a judge again, he’s running for the Senate. That is the body that is suppose to make law!
Oh, if only Judge Moore had been around to ignore the Dred Scott ruling...
This clown is obviously a Strange supporter. Who was the candidate the Republican wanted. It’s the people that didn’t want another Republican like this guy supports. So they picked Judge Moore. That is how it works twerp. Get over it.
“Rebellion to tyranny is obedience to God”
I believe Moore would lay down his life.
It doesn’t matter if you have one Führer or nine Führers. God’s law reigns Supreme!
20 And God spake all these words, saying,
2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
Another jackoff op-ed from a jackoff. Activist judges write whatever suits them and ignore the Constitution. Judges who uphold the Constitution are not activist judges. Thanks Oshkalaboomboom.
Bernie Goldberg is a LIBERAL Jew....they usually don’t like Christians who stank up for their beliefs.
Bernard Goldberg is an oaf. An ignorant oaf.
Well at least he an activist for Constitutional outcomes.
The best thing about the demise of O’Reilly is not having to watch Bernie.
Goldberg made millions by pretending he was a conservative with his books.
This guy really hates Roy Moore, doesn’t he? I voted for Mr. Moore 3 times, and next month will make it 4!
“Another jackoff op-ed from a jackoff.”
Here in the ‘Burgh we call ‘em “jagoffs”. And you are spot on.
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