[Luis Gonzalez]

Congressman, no one in the SCOTUS stood by the Moses statue and gave its purpose of being there as a reminder to "the appellate courts and judges of the circuit and district courts of this state and members of the bar who appear before them as well as the people of Alabama who visit the Alabama Judicial Building of the truth stated in the preamble of the Alabama Constitution that in order to establish justice we must invoke 'the favor and guidance of Almighty God,' ", nor did any SCOTUS Justice go on to remark during a Courtroom prayer that his "duty under the Constitution is to acknowledge the Judeo-Christian God, not the gods of other faiths. We are not a nation founded upon the Hindu god or Buddha", as Judge Moore did.

Roy Moore, in his capacity as Head Justice, by his statements, and the placement of the tenets of Judeo-Christian beliefs in the rotunda of the Justice building, effectively defined the concept of God for the State of Alabama, in conflict with article 3 of the Alabama Constitution of 1901.

[takenoprisoner]

If you are of the Hindu or Buddha persuasion may I suggest a couple of countries for you?

[Congressman Billybob]

Good morning. my friend,

The mouthpiece for the Southern Poverty Law Center made the same argument that you do, on Fox News. But notice where that argument leads.

First we had hate crimes, which I thought should have been declared unconstitutional. Murder is murder, and whenevr has there been a "love" murder (O.J. Simpson excluded). But now, in this argument, we have hate thoughts. The Ten Commandments becomes unconstitutional because of the thoughts in the mind of the person who commissioned the statute?

It is hard for me, as a First Amendment lawyer, to imagine a clearer violation of that Amendment. What was in the mind of the Chief Justice of the United States who commissioned the two (or three -- see other posts on the third one) memorial of the Ten Commandments placed on and in the Supreme Court building?

How shall we try that case? Have a reliable medium (played by Whoopi Goldberg) channel his spirit and testify as to his intent?

I am not arguing for the truth of every word spoken by Chief Judge Moore. I AM arguing that the First Amendment, as written, does not forbid the display of the Ten Commandments -- not in Alabama, not in D.C., not anywhere else in the nation. Moore's rhetoric is simply and clearly irrelevant to the constitutional question presented.

Whenever I see any lawyer in any case pounding the table over a part of the case that is irrelevant to the logical outcome, I know that lawyer is engaging in what we call "poisoning the well." Such lawyers are trying to trick the judge, or jury, into a false decision. By their very tactics, such lawyers are tacitly admitting that their case is weak and that their clients deserve to lose, on a fair understanding of the facts and the law.

Don't buy into such an argument, my friend. You are much to bright and able to be had by such a cheap trick.

Billybob / John