Posted on 08/20/2003 1:10:06 PM PDT by Atlas Sneezed
Any court that promotes Sodomy and bases it's findings on the findings of international courts, doesn't really need a reason other then Anti-Americanism. Now if we could just find some way to impeach some of those idiots.
Take the monument away and put it on private property.
Supreme Court rejects last-minute Alabama chief justice appeal GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer |
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(08-20) 13:11 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court refused Wednesday to block the removal of a Ten Commandments monument from an Alabama judicial building, rejecting a last-minute appeal from the judge who installed the display. The justices said they would not be drawn, at least for now, into a dispute over whether the monument violates the Constitution's ban on government promotion of religion. The high court was Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's last hope to avoid a federal judge's midnight deadline to remove the display. It was unclear if Moore would comply. Other state officials have said the monument would be moved. Moore's lawyers told justices in a filing that Moore should be allowed to "establish justice by acknowledging the guidance and favor of Almighty God, placed upon him by his oath of office and the Constitution of Alabama." Moore installed the 5,300-pound stone monument in the rotunda of the judicial building two years ago after being elected chief justice amid publicity of his support of the Ten Commandments. The Supreme Court has never ruled on the constitutionality of such indoor and outdoor government displays. In 1980, the court barred Ten Commandments from classroom walls in public schools. The justices' refusal to intervene was not a surprise. An appeals court had twice refused to give Moore a stay. "It's not like somebody's about to face execution, if the court doesn't enter a stay the person will be dead and the appeal will be moot," said David Frederick, a Washington attorney who specializes in Supreme Court practice. "If the Supreme Court were to decide it's constitutional, it can always be put back." Moore had pledged last week to defy the judge's order. His emergency stay request was filed Wednesday with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who oversees cases from Alabama. Kennedy referred it to the full court, which said in a one-sentence order that it was rejected. Moore has already asked the Supreme Court to consider whether the judge overstepped his bounds in the case, and a second appeal in the Ten Commandments case is expected. Those could take months to resolve. Groups that challenged the monument filed papers at the Supreme Court arguing that Moore should be required to obey the lower court's mandate. His compliance "will promote the public interest and will uphold the integrity of the federal judiciary in the face of Moore's attack," wrote Ayesha Khan, legal director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. In Alabama, Moore's supporters held a candlelight vigil early Wednesday. "Even if they should remove this monument -- and God forbid they do -- they'll never be able to remove it from our hearts," said the Rev. Greg Dixon of Indianapolis Baptist Temple. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson has said he may fine the state about $5,000 a day if the monument is not removed by the end of the day Wednesday. He has said it would be permissible for the monument to be moved to a less public site, such as Moore's office. Supreme Court: www.supremecourtus.gov/ |
Your analogy to the Moses Sculptures in the Supreme Court building shows your total lack of understanding of the legal priciples at issue. The Moses sculpture in the Supreme Court building is not a large granite object placed smack in the middle of the retunda for everyone to trip over as they enter and exit the building for the sole purpose of promoting the religious beliefs of a particular sitting judge. Indeed, of the dozens of times I've entered the Supreme Court building, I never even noticed the sculpture and until it was recently brought to my attention. And unlike Moore's monument, the sculpture doesn't actually contain the text of the Ten Commandments, but rather shows the tablets symbolically as part of an artistic exhibit of the history of our legal system.
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