When will Moore's monument be moved?
08/25/03By SALLIE OWEN and BILL BARROW
Capital Bureau
MONTGOMERY -- J. Gorman Houston Jr. will begin his first workday as Alabama's acting chief justice today armed with an attorney general's opinion granting him all the duties and authority given the chief justice.
Chief Justice Roy Moore was suspended from office immediately after a judicial ethics panel filed charges against him Friday. Charges stem from Moore's refusal to obey a federal court order and remove his Ten Commandments monument from public areas of the Alabama Judicial Building. The suspension lasts until the case is resolved by the Court of the Judiciary.
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Moore is expected to make a public statement on the matter today.
Houston said Sunday that in his new role as acting chief justice, he could individually order the building manager to move the monument, as the eight associate justices did together Thursday morning. He said he might issue a duplicate order but had not made a final decision.
Attorney General Bill Pryor issued the opinion Saturday, answering several questions Houston posed a day earlier to clarify his duties and responsibilities as acting chief justice.
The Alabama constitution states that judges shall be disqualified, or suspended, from "acting as a judge" while charges are pending with the Court of the Judiciary. State law specifies that, if the chief justice is "disabled" from carrying out his duties because of illness or other reason, the senior associate justice will assume those responsibilities.
Houston has served as an associate justice on Alabama's Supreme Court for nearly 18 years.
According to the opinion, Houston will also have hiring and firing authority over the administrative director of courts and all members of the chief justice's staff.
Houston said he would not make any personnel changes until after he meets with the associate justices, saying he wanted it to be a "democratic process."
Meanwhile, protesters covered the front portico of the judicial building and dotted downtown street corners for the fifth consecutive day. Temperatures reached 95 degrees in Montgomery, according to the National Weather Service, with a heat index in the triple digits.
The sermons, prayers and hymns of Moore's supporters carried on throughout the day, with a two-hour worship service in the morning, an afternoon prayer service and an evening rally.
Between 500 and 1,000 demonstrators crowded around the building listening to the evening speeches when someone noticed a young man perched on a third-story ledge of the judicial building. The rally went on as planned as Montgomery police and area rescue officials tried to talk the man, who did not appear to be threatening to jump, into coming down.
Protest organizers said the man, who had been around for a few days, largely had kept to himself throughout the weekend. Some said they only knew him by the name "Greg" and had no other information.
Organizer Troy Newman of Operation Rescue called for additional people to camp out over night at the judicial building because "something very critical could happen to the monument tomorrow morning."
No information on plans to move the monument was available from state officials. Moore supporters are expected to file a counter suit in a Mobile federal court today seeking to prevent anyone from moving the 5,300-pound chunk of granite.
The Rev. Patrick Mahoney, head of the Christian Defense Coalition, said the suit will name Alabama's eight remaining Supreme Court justices as defendants.
Mahoney informally addressed Moore supporters during the late afternoon, explaining to them the group's plan to block symbolically any effort to remove the monument. He told protesters "to kneel side-by-side in Christian love" to block authorities or heavy equipment from entering the building to remove the stone.
"But do not lock arms" or resist arrest, he said, before repeating, "Do not, do not lock arms." Mahoney told the group that protest leaders have discussed their civil disobedience procedures with law enforcement personnel. "When a policeman tells you to get up, get up."
Moore's supporters have attracted counter-protesters of their own. Bob Kunst arrived in Montgomery late last week after a 12-hour trip Miami Beach, Fla. A practicing Jew, Kunst said he opposes government displays of religion and wants to highlight that there are people of faith who disagree with Moore's manner of acknowledging the Almighty.
"God doesn't need symbolism. God is God," Kunst said, standing on the corner of Dexter Avenue and McDonough Street.
Kunst held a sign reading, "Sodomites For The Separation of Church and State," a dig at some Moore supporters who have hurled insults at him in recent days. Most of the protesters, however, have been friendly, Kunst said.
Across from Kunst, a small band of Moore supporters displayed a sign of their own: "The wicked shall be turned into Hell."
Also on Sunday, Larry Darby, director of American Atheists' Alabama chapter, announced plans to hold a rally Monday for supporters of separation of church and state. Darby said the event would take place across the street from the judicial building at 11 a.m.