Posted on 08/29/2003 3:05:22 AM PDT by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - A suit calling for the Ten Commandments monument in the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery to be returned to public view will be decided by the same federal judge who had it removed on Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson has agreed to hear arguments on Tuesday from a lawsuit filed on behalf of a pastor and a Christian radio talk show host that the forced removal of the 2.5-ton granite display violated their constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion.
"I'm very encouraged," said Brian Chavez-Ochoa, the lawyer who filed the suit. "I think Judge Thompson will allow this lawsuit to proceed to trial."
Thompson is actually the second judge to consider the filing. A federal judge in Mobile dismissed the lawsuit on Wednesday, but supporters filed it again in Montgomery on Thursday.
Also on Thursday, more than 1,000 people gathered for a rally to call for the monument to be removed from a storage area in the building and returned to the rotunda.
Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who installed the 5,280-pound monument two years ago, did not attend the event because he didn't want supporters to make the fight about him rather than the public acknowledgment of God the monument represents.
In Moore's place, Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, spoke to the crowd.
Dobson said it was ironic that the struggle over the Ten Commandments monument was taking place in the same city where, decades earlier, Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of a bus.
Parks "saw something that she felt was evil," Dobson stated. "Yeah, it was part of the 'rule of law' we have been hearing about since last week. But it was wrong, and it was evil.
"We're in a great moral struggle of our own," Dobson continued. "It can be said that people of faith are being sent to the back of the bus - and we're not gonna go there."
Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition and organizer of the demonstration, said it is critical for the supporters to remain after the monument's removal to "stand with Christ and against judicial tyranny."
"The foundations of America are being broken up each time the gavel of an activist judge is pounded in America," added Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.
"The symbolism as well as the substance of this moment cannot escape us," Perkins said. "One federal judge has placed the Ten Commandments in a closet. That came after the United States Supreme Court recently welcomed everything else out of the closet."
Alabama Gov. Bob Riley said in a statement that he hopes the monument's removal is "brief and temporary" and that the U.S. Supreme Court orders it moved back. The Republican official said he will file court papers supporting Moore.
'A tremendous victory'
Meanwhile, ripples from the situation in Montgomery continued to be felt across the country.
Asked about President Bush's view of the controversy, White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said: "It is important that we respect our laws and our courts. In some instances, the courts have ruled that the posting of Ten Commandments is OK. In other circumstances, they have ruled that it's not OK. In either case, there is always opportunity for appeal of courts' decisions."
Also, the governor of Alabama's western neighbor, Mississippi, offered to give the disputed monument a new home - for a week. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove announced Thursday that he'd put the display in his state's capitol building for seven days starting Sept. 7.
"Like many Americans, I have watched as Alabama's struggle to display our Christian heritage has unfolded," Musgrove said in a statement. "I had hoped and prayed that the courts would stand up for our rights, and I am disappointed. It is my sincere hope that the U.S. Supreme Court will override the federal court's decision."
GOP gubernatorial candidate Haley Barbour, who faces Musgrove in the Nov. 4 general election, also issued a statement saying removal of the monument was wrong.
"Tell Judge Moore, who is a hero to so many of us, that if they don't want the monument in Alabama, we want it in Mississippi," Barbour said. "I'll send a truck over today to pick it up if they'll let me have it for the governor's mansion."
But others felt the situation had been resolved properly.
"This is a tremendous victory for the rule of law and respect for religious diversity," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
However, Judge Moore "has shamelessly exploited the Ten Commandments as a platform for political grandstanding," Lynn added. "As this affair draws to a close, I reiterate my call for Moore to spare the people of Alabama any further embarrassment and resign as chief justice."
See Earlier Story:
Defenders of Ten Commandments Warn Future of Nation at Stake (Aug. 28, 2003)
E-mail a news tip to Randy Hall.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
I can see it now. The bailiff calls the court to order, whereupon the judge sits down, looks over at the plaintiffs, and says, "So tell me where I'm wrong!"
Calling Barry Lynn "Rev." is like calling Hanoi Jane Fonda a "Patriot".
Specifically:
"The text of the Constitution easily allows us to see and understand the federal judiciary's abuse of power and its usurpation of the right of the people in religious matters. It also provides a remedy for this abuse. The Congress must pass legislation that, in order to assure proper respect for the first clause of the First Amendment, excepts from the appellate jurisdiction of the federal courts those matters which, by the conjoint effect of the First and 10th Amendments, the Constitution reserves to the states respectively and to the people. (This language avoids a semantic difficulty, since congressional legislation that explicitly mentioned matters pertaining to an establishment of religion would serve the intention but violate the terms of the first clause of the First Amendment.)"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.