Associate justices overrule Moore, vote to comply with order
By BOB JOHNSON
The Associated Press
8/21/2003, 10:41 a.m. CT
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- The eight associate justices overruled Chief Justice Roy Moore on Thursday and directed that his Ten Commandments monument be removed from its public site in the Alabama Judicial Building.
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A federal judge has ruled the monument violates the constitution's ban on government promotion of religion and must be removed from its public place in the rotunda. He set a Thursday deadline, but Moore said he would not move it.
The associate justices wrote that they are "bound by solemn oath to follow the law, whether they agree or disagree with it."
The monument was briefly walled off from public view Thursday as the federal court deadline passed for the marker to be out of public sight. Then the plywood-like wall came down, displaying the monument again.
Houston said the building manager may have put up the partition in order for the state to be in compliance until the associate justices made a decision. Their seven-page order, signed by all eight, was issued about 10 a.m. The partition had blocked public view of the monument from about 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Moore's spokesman, Tom Parker, said Moore was out of town for a family funeral but decided to return to Montgomery when he learned the monument had been walled from public view.
"This is an example of what is happening in this country: the acknowledgment of God as the moral foundation of law in this nation is being hidden from us," Moore said in a statement issued by Parker.
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson had set a Thursday deadline for Moore's monument to be removed outright or moved to a private part of the judicial building.
Late Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. Supreme Court had rejected Moore's emergency plea for a stay of the federal court order, declining for the time being to be drawn into a dispute over whether the monument violates the Constitution's ban on government promotion of religion.
Richard Cohen, an attorney for plaintiffs, said a motion was filed Thursday morning with Thompson asking that Moore be held in contempt for not removing the monument. Thompson, who had threatened $5,000-a-day fines against the state, is expected to consider the contempt motion Friday, but it might be moot if the monument is in compliance.
"This just shows what an extremist Roy Moore is, than all eight of the other justices are refusing to stand with him," said plaintiff's attorney Ayesha Khan. "We applaud the efforts of the other justices to obey the rule of law. It's a far more patriotic act to obey the constitution and the federal courts than to do what Justice Moore has done."
The monument has not bee viewed as a partisan issue. Moore is a Republican; seven of the eight associate justices also are Republicans.
Dozens of Moore supporters remained outside the building Thursday morning, kneeling in prayer. Several hundred had gathered earlier for a rally. Supporters had sung and prayed outside the building throughout the day Wednesday as those inside were removed from the rotunda in handcuffs when they refused to leave voluntarily.
A total of 21 protesters were arrested and taken to the Montgomery County Jail, where they were charged with trespassing. Most were released on their recognizance.
Stephen Hopkins, pastor of Burnet Bible Church in Burnet, Texas, was one of the 21 people arrested Wednesday night. He said he was willing to be arrested even though he has 10 children.
"This is a great hypocrisy," Hopkins said. "This is an assault on God. They're saying we're going to cover up God."
Patrick Mahoney, the demonstration organizer who is director of the Christian Defense Coalition, called the partition put up briefly Thursday morning "the Berlin Wall of religious tyranny."
During Wednesday night's rally, former presidential candidate Alan Keyes delivered a fiery speech, saying the efforts of courts and government to stifle religion must end.
"This must end or freedom will end with it," Keyes said. "No longer can we tolerate this crime that is being done against our movement for almighty God."
Moore, who installed the monument in the rotunda of the judicial building two years ago in the middle of the night, said in a statement that he does not consider the case over. He said he still plans to appeal to the Supreme Court on the merits of the case.
"The U.S. Supreme Court's denial of a stay today will not deter me from continuing to fight for the right of our state to acknowledge God," Moore said in the statement.
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.
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According to this story, the courthouse is closed to walk-in traffic until August 25:
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