Top Alabama judge vows Commandments fight

AP | 8/22/03 | BOB JOHNSON

[kattracks]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama's top judge refused to back down in his fight to keep a Ten Commandments monument and lashed out at his colleagues who ordered it removed from the rotunda of the state judicial building.

"I will never deny the God upon whom our laws and country depend," Chief Justice Roy Moore said in a fiery defense of the 5,300-pound granite marker, as supporters cheered and prayed on the building's steps.

The monument was still in the building's rotunda early Thursday evening, and court officials did not say when or where it would be moved.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson, who had ruled the monument's placement violated the Constitution's ban on government promotion of a religious doctrine, has said it could be moved to a private place still within the building. He had threatened $5,000-a-day fines if Moore left the monument in the public rotunda.

Moore installed the monument two years ago and contends it represents the moral foundation of American law.

"Not only did Judge Thompson put himself above the law, but above God as well," Moore told his supporters Thursday.

The chief justice had appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the removal order, but the court rejected it Wednesday. Moore said Thursday he would file a formal appeal with the high court soon "to defend our constitutional right to acknowledge God."

"I cannot forsake my conscience," he said.

His supporters, meanwhile, promised to block any effort to remove the monument.

"We will kneel at the doors. We will prevent forklifts or trucks from coming in," said Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, which is organizing around-the-clock demonstrations.

Moore's eight colleagues on the state Supreme Court intervened after Thompson's midnight deadline for removing the monument passed and the monument remained. In ordering the monument moved, the justices said they were "bound by solemn oath to follow the law."

Justice Gorman Houston said all eight instructed building manager Graham George to "take all steps necessary to comply" with the removal order. George declined to comment when asked when, how or where the monument would be moved.

Attorney General Bill Pryor filed a notice with the federal district court after the justices' issued their order and said he believed that would remove any risk of fines.

Taxpayers "should not be punished for the refusal of the chief justice to follow a federal court order," he said.

A partition was put in front of the monument early Thursday but was removed after about three hours. Houston said the building manager may have erected it to comply with the order.

Gov. Bob Riley said in a statement that he supports public displays of the Ten Commandments, but also supports the decision of associate justices to "uphold the rule of law."

In his speech Thursday, Moore said he was "disappointed with my colleagues" and lashed out at "this so-called rule of law" that they cited. He said such blind obedience would have allowed slavery to continue.

Richard Hahnemann of Huntsville, the monument's sculptor, said he expects voters to remember what the justices did come election day.

"They have their opinion. Justice Moore was elected by the people to do what he did," Hahnemann said.

Richard Cohen, an attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center — which sued along with the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State — praised the eight justices.

"Their courageous actions reflect that Justice Moore is a disgrace to the bench and ought to resign or be removed from office," Cohen said.

Still, protesters outside the building said they were willing to stand in the Alabama heat and risk arrest for days or weeks to keep the monument inside. Twenty-one were arrested Wednesday night on trespassing charges for refusing to leave the monument when the building was closing.

Stephen Hopkins, pastor of Burnet Bible Church in Burnet, Texas, was one of those arrested. 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."

[Chancellor Palpatine]

I was taking it as applying to mainly to here, but I see your point.

[jimt]

...without having to resort to the hucksterism of cloaking myself in the Word in order to achieve secular gain...

Bingo !

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Glad a few of us see the pharisaic nature of this battle.

[steve-b]

I'll guarantee that the routine work of that court has been on a slow crawl with all this going on. You know, the stuff they get paid to do - hearing appeals, writing opinions, considering emergency writs, etc......

Indeed. If Moore doesn't want to do the work the taxpayers have hired him to do, he ought to be honest about it and resign.

Heck, the Texas Democrats holed up in an Albuquerque hotel are more honest on this point than Moore is.

[Catspaw]

I had thought that Moore had wanted to be governor, but given that he's not talking to the local press (whose favors he needs to curry if he wants to be governor) and only talking to the national media, I wonder if Moore would be content in running just a state (most of it's rather boring anyway--budgets, ribbon cuttings, etc.). I doubt if he'd be content as a backbencher in either the Senate or the House, either. He's going for national--not statewide--recognition, either in a private or public arena.

[Bluntpoint]

Now you hurt my feelings! To think I came all this way to find myself in your shrubs in your backyard. Now I feel like just another stalker.

By the way, your wife should not be wearing those high heels with that cat of nine tails.

[Texas_Dawg]

I was taking it as applying to mainly to here, but I see your point.

I agree with that then. I think FR as a website is a great idea and a cool format, but true conservatives here (and in everyday life) need to speak up more often and call out some of the fringe that lurk around these parts. That's what separates current-day conservatives/GOP from leftists/Democratic Party.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

..no hot air at all. Ultimately, it's their choice...

...and while they're out there at the courthouse, protesting against the ACLU and the liberals, it's your choice to backstab them here.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

..To: Chancellor Palpatine You know the type: "Hey look at me, it is not really about the message!"...

Oh, yes.

He knows the type.

[Texas_Dawg]

...and while they're out there at the courthouse, protesting against the ACLU and the liberals, it's your choice to backstab them here.

Backstab them? Who said I was ever with them on this? We have laws and in no way does this ruling prevent them from spreading the Gospel of Christ to people. Do you even care about that part of the Bible?

[LanPB01]

You Aussies talk about being "up yourselves"? That sounds like a personal problem to me, buddy.

[jimt]

In our country in our time we the people are the governing authorities.

And that is exactly what's wrong with this clown Moore. He claims he gets his authority as a judge from God, which is an utter crock. He gets his authority from the good people of the state of Alabama.

Who, by the way, have some of the nicest highways and rest stops I've ever seen.

[ohioman]

""...the big deal is that there's this war happening- on the Constitution, on values and on principles. Liberal maggots are prosecuting it, and men like Moore are opposing it. Here on FR, we have a handful of posters who are unable to win any respect by virtue of their posts or their activism, but can attract attention and notoriety through the slandering of those who are actually standing up for what's right. In their sick little minds, running down a man like Moore, somehow narrows the accomplishment gap between their mediocrity, and his stature.

But hey, why am I telling you this? Keep narrowing, 'general.'""

Byron, yours' is the best post I have seen in quite a while, which describes the lowlifes who have invasded FR. I am from Alabama. My grandmother lives outside of Montgomery and many in her church are in Montgomery supporting Judge Moore. To be honest, none of these slandering fools would be so rude if they saw me in public. The problem here on FR is that we still have many who either hate the South or anything to do with religion in society. The good people of Alabama (and many other places) will not go down without a fight.

[steve-b]

Here conservatives assume the mantle of hipocrisy. . . .
An example helps. In death penalty cases, we decry those defendants and their lawyers who take up numerous appeals and writs to avoid execution ont he belief that they are either innocent or, worse yet, not properly subjected to the death penalty. We sponsor laws to cut off (properly so) their access to the courts for more appeals.
Opponents take to the streets and protest the execution.
Here, on FR, we openly mock these citizens as lilly-livered traitors to the American cause. in our eyes, the courts judgment of conviction is final and the law must be carried out for the protection of us all. While they oppose death; we believe them to be sinners.
Yet, when the Courts make a decision we do not like, we stand in defiance. We support numerous appeals, petitions for stay and protests in the street. We vow defiance of the decision and its enforcement.
We are not a movement that respects the law; we are a movement that craves convenience and absolute obesiance to the fickles of our will.
This is our darkest and least credible moment.

No more calls; we have a winner!

[Byron_the_Aussie]

..that's what separates current-day conservatives/GOP from leftists/Democratic Party....

...you're getting surreal now, mate.

You do realise it is leftists and Dem activists behind the campaign to remove the monument, don't you? So where's your current-day conservatism?

[Byron_the_Aussie]

....who, by the way, have some of the nicest highways and rest stops I've ever seen....

Jim? A quick question?

Naaah. I better not......

[Bluntpoint]

Found on Judge Moore's Mama's refrigerator:

[general_re]

Please, I have heartburn as it is...

You may be right, particularly since the next gubernatorial election in Alabama isn't until 2006 - that's an awful long time to wait. Too much time - people will have second thoughts by then. Gotta strike while the iron is hot...

[Texas_Dawg]

The problem here on FR is that we still have many who either hate the South or anything to do with religion in society.

So how do you explain me? I love the South. I have relatives and friends in every Southern state in the South. I spent every Summer of my childhood at a house my family had in Alabama. I'm also an evangelical Christian. I supported Moore's attempt to keep the monument up. But this has turned into a prideful show that has nothing to do with the Gospel whatsoever.

[ohioman]

If you don't like what's happening in Bama , then please keep your bluegrass in KY. They don't want you in 'Bama.