Law as an element of civilization was normally and naturally derived or inherited in this country from former civilizations. The ?Eastern Pediment? of the Supreme Court Building suggests therefore the treatment of such fundamental laws and precepts as are derived from the East. Moses, Confucius and Solon are chosen as representing three great civilizations and form the central group of this Pediment. Flanking this central group? left ? is the symbolical figure bearing the means of enforcing the law. On the right a group tempering justice with mercy, allegorically treated. The ?Youth? is brought into both these groups to suggest the ?Carrying on? of civilization through the knowledge imbibed of right and wrong. The next two figures with shields; Left ? The settlement of disputes between states through enlightened judgment. Right ? Maritime and other large functions of the Supreme Court in protection of the United States. The last figures: Left ? Study and pondering of judgments. Right ? A tribute to the fundamental and supreme character of this Court. Finale ? The fable of the Tortoise and the Hare. Architectural Details of the Supreme CourtThere is a lot more going on then just a depiction of Moses and the Decalogue.
If Moore had made a general tableau of the history of the Law, then it would have been comparable to the Supreme Court's pediment.
There is more to it than that though. The Alabama State Constitution's preamble invokes the 'power of Almighty God' in just those words. Judge Moore was putting that sentiment into a stone monument. It is an establishment of his religion to invoke God's name and power and glory in his daily activities. It is his oath of office to uphold the Alabama Constitution. This is one of his ways of doing it and it reflects the same invocation as the State Constitution. The supreme law of Alabama.
The federal Constitution says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" in the 1st Amend. and it says "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people" in the Tenth Amendment. It can't be prohibited by the Constitution for a State to invoke God's name, or a person, because it says without caveat that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." How can the federal court intervene in a State's matter and rule where there is no law made and a prohibition against making one?
What has happened to Judge Moore's "free exercise thereof;..." What has happened to his "freedom of speech"?
The only separation intended or written of was designed to keep Government—all three branches of Government— from imposing whatever may be their will du jour on religion.
It was never intended that we should try to rightly Legislate, Police, or Judge our society absent deeply held religious morality, for as the Founders said many times and many ways, that would be absolutely impossible.
Here is the cut-and-pasteable url for the Library of Congress' take on this topic. Don't take my word for it, go and hear it straight from Adams, Washington, Franklin, Madison and Jefferson. Here's a small preview:
"...The Smiles of Heaven can never be expected On a Nation that disregards the eternal rules of Order and Right, which Heaven Itself Ordained." President George Washington
"I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- God Governs in the Affairs of Men, And if a Sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, Is it possible that an empire can rise without His aid?" Benjamin Franklin
"Except the Lord build the house, They labor in vain who build it." "I firmly believe this." Benjamin Franklin, 1787, Constitutional Convention
"The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His Apostles.... This is genuine Christianity and to this we owe our free constitutions of government." Noah Webster
Check it out:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel04.html