Moore's down to last chance
By Todd Kleffman
Montgomery Advertiser
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MOORE
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Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was rebuffed twice by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday in his 11th-hour efforts to thwart the court-ordered removal of his Ten Commandments monument by the end of the day today.
Moore's only hope now for court intervention rests with the U.S. Supreme Court, which is in recess and not obligated to respond to the emergency writ Moore filed Friday.
Moore had no comment on Tuesday's developments, said his spokesman, Tom Parker.
Meanwhile, a group of Moore supporters from across the country detailed their plans for around-the-clock vigils beginning at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.
The civil disobedience protests are designed to prevent the monument's removal from the state Judicial Building by kneeling down in front of a forklift or whatever might be used to take the 5,300-pound monument out.
"We're assuming the monument can be taken out at any time (after today's deadline expires)," said the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Christian Defense Coalition, which is organizing the vigils.
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RALLY FOR VIGIL The Christian Defense Coalition is sponsoring a Ten Commandments rally to start off an around-the-clock vigil to protect the monument from removal. What: Keep the Commandments rally When: 7:30 p.m. today Where: State Judicial Building |
Mahoney introduced people from Kansas, Ohio and California who have arrived in Montgomery and are willing to go to jail to protect the monument. Many others are coming to join the vigil, which will last as long as needed, Mahoney said.
"I'm here to support the moral foundation of our nation," said the Rev. Phil Fulton, who said he was arrested in June trying to protect four Ten Commandments monuments installed at high schools in Adams County, Ohio, after a federal court ordered their removal. "Without that, this nation will crumble, this nation will fail as Hitler's Germany did."
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson issued today's deadline for the monument's removal. Thompson has indicated he will impose civil contempt fines beginning at $5,000 a day against the state if Moore refuses to obey the order.
Moore said last week he has "no intentions' of taking out the monument installed two years ago. The display has been ruled unconstitutional by Thompson, and three judges from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
After Moore announced his plans to defy Thompson's order, Montgomery Attorney Steve Glassroth, one of the plaintiff's who sued Moore over the monument, filed a complaint against the chief justice with the Judicial Inquiry Commission. The complaint alleges Moore violated the judicial canon by threatening to disobey the authority of a higher court.
If the commission decides to investigate the complaint and finds it has reasonable cause, the case would go to the Court of the Judiciary. Moore automatically would be suspended from his job with pay pending the outcome. If found guilty, Moore could face penalties ranging from a reprimand to removal from office.
Moore's defiant announcement also prompted senior Associate Justice Gorman Houston to issue a statement that the other eight members of the state Supreme Court would take whatever steps necessary to make sure Alabama remains "a government of laws, not men."
The associate justices are scheduled to meet today. A majority vote of the eight remaining justices could override Moore's decision to keep the monument in place.
The authority of the JIC and associate justices to influence the fate of Moore and his monument "concerns us," Mahoney said.
Montgomery attorney Robert Varley, who is working for the American Civil Liberties Union on the Moore case, said the plaintiffs likely would go to Thompson seeking contempt charges against Moore early Thursday if the monument is not removed by then.
The plaintiffs might not force the issue, however, if there appears to be a plan to remove the monument under way from the justices or another source, Varley said.
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It looks like Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor is going to enforce the court order, not federal marshals.
Monument coming down 'very soon,' Pryor says
Federal court has ordered removal of Ten Commandments memorial from state building
08/20/03By GEORGE TALBOT
Business Reporter
SANDESTIN, Fla. -- Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor said Tuesday he will enforce a federal court's order for removal of a Ten Commandments monument from the state Supreme Court building and that, "I expect it to be removed very soon."
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While Pryor has said he would put his personal beliefs aside when dealing with the Ten Commandments issue, Tuesday marked his first remarks estimating an abbreviated time frame for removal of the monument that has polarized Alabama in the argument over the separation of church and state.
"My responsibility is to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law, and I will be doing my duty," Pryor said when asked about the monument after a speech at the Business Council of Alabama's annual governmental affairs conference at a Florida Panhandle resort.
Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore installed the 5,280-pound monument in the rotunda of the state judicial building two years ago. On Tuesday, Moore continued his legal fight to keep the monument in place, asking the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider after it declined to stay an order requiring him to remove the monument by midnight tonight .
Pryor, a Mobile native who has seen his appointment for a lifetime seat on the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stymied by congressional Democrats, said it is his personal belief that the Ten Commandments can be displayed constitutionally. Despite that view, however, he will keep the state in compliance with the order to remove the monument, he said.
"I don't want to speculate on how or exactly when it is going to happen," Pryor said Tuesday. "I will be advising the appropriate state officials on how to proceed, and I expect they will do so."
The effort to remove the monument could meet resistance from Moore's supporters, who said Tuesday they planned an around-the-clock prayer vigil and a series of protests on the steps of the court building.
Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, said the protests would begin at 12:01 a.m. today and would be "Christ-centered, peaceful and prayerful."
"Every minute that monument stays in the building after (today) is a victory," Mahoney said.
Joining Mahoney at the judicial building Tuesday were several people who said they had come to Montgomery to join Moore's fight.
"I'm tired of a small group of people telling us that we can't display our history on public buildings," said Jenny Brown, who traveled to Montgomery with her daughter from their home in Wichita, Kan.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, for the second time Tuesday, rejected a plea by Moore to stay the removal order until the U.S. Supreme Court can rule on his petition call for it to intervene.
A three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based appeals court, denying his second motion of the day, said he had failed to ask for a stay within the legal time frame after it ruled against him July 1.
His request now can be granted only in "extraordinary circumstances," and Moore failed to show such circumstances exist, the appeals judges said. Their ruling said that repealing U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson's order to remove the monument would be "one of last resort, to be held in reserve against grave, unforeseen contingencies."
Thompson ruled earlier this year that the monument violates the constitution's ban on government promotion of religion. He said he may impose fines of about $5,000 per day on the state if the monument is not removed by the deadline.
Thompson has said it would be permissible for the monument to be moved to a less public site, such as Moore's office.
Moore took a defiant stand last week, saying he "cannot and will not" remove the monument. Moore could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the eight associate justices on the Alabama Supreme Court have considered using a state law that allows a majority of the court to overrule an administrative decision by the chief justice. The associ ate justices are not expected to take any action unless fines are imposed on the state after the Wednesday deadline.
Robert Varley, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the groups suing to remove the monument, said he expects it will be removed. "No one in this country is above the rule of law. We don't have kings and princes," Varley said.
State Rep. Jim Carns, a Republican who is minority leader in the House, wrote the attorney general on Monday, asking a series of questions on why Pryor hasn't fought for Moore under state's rights and other claims. Carns also asked if the associate justices could overrule Moore and order the monument removed.
Pryor, a Republican, like Moore, reiterated his belief that "the Ten Commandments are the cornerstone of our legal heritage," but said he must "obey all orders of the court, even when I disagree with those orders."
(The Associated Press con tributed to this report.)