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A last-minute request that the Ten Commandments shrine be allowed to stay put while a higher court reviews the case was denied Monday by a federal judge who accused Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore of pursuing a legal strategy bent on public confrontation. The decision leaves intact the Wednesday deadline that Moore remove the 2½-ton monument from its prominent spot in the lobby of the state judicial building in Montgomery. But Moore's attorneys responded quickly Monday afternoon and asked a federal appeals court to review the decision. "We have filed something with every court we possibly can within the last...

The U. S. Constitution's guarantee against an "Establishment of Religion" is not violated by the placement in the Alabama State Judicial Building's rotunda of a 2 ½ ton monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments and a variety of other quotes. To the contrary, interpretations of the Constitution by a U. S. District Court in Alabama and a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals do violate the Constitution. The monument was designed and commissioned by Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in recognition of the moral foundation of the law. This suit should never have gone to court. The...

Amendment would ban the use of federal money to remove Ten Commandments monument from Alabama judicial center.The U.S. Congress might wind up having a say in how the case against Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is resolved.An amendment to an appropriations bill already approved by the House and awaiting action in the Senate would prohibit the use of federal money to enforce a U.S. District Court order that Moore remove a 2 1/2-ton stone monument of the Commandments from the rotunda of the state judicial center by Wednesday. Moore has said he won't comply.U.S. Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., sponsored the...

(CNSNews.com) - Congress is now involved in the battle over the display of a Ten Commandments monument at the Alabama Supreme Court building. Indiana Republican Rep. John Hostettler's amendment to a House-passed appropriations bill would cut federal funds used to enforce a federal court order to remove the monument. The Senate has yet to pass its version of the appropriations bill. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 1 upheld a lower court ruling and ordered Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore to remove the 5,280-pound sculpture from the building's rotunda by Aug. 20. Moore had ordered...

An amendment to a pending spending bill could block federal marshals from enforcing a federal court order to remove a massive replica of the Ten Commandments from the Alabama State Judicial Building in Montgomery. Rep. John Hostettler's amendment to the Commerce, State and Justice spending bill adds another element to the religious wars that have broken out of late on Capitol Hill. In recent weeks, Republicans have accused Democrats of operating an anti-catholic litmus test that prevents orthodox Catholics who oppose abortion from being confirmed to the federal bench. Hostettler (R-Ind.) told The Hill: "It's plain clear that Congress can...

A bill to prohibit any federal court other than the Supreme Court from invalidating the Pledge of Allegiance has attracted 220 co-sponsors, and supporters expect it to pass the House and then get major backing in the Senate. The movement for the bill was sparked by a ruling issued last year by the federal appeals court in San Francisco that held that the words "under God" made it unconstitutional to recite the Pledge in a public school. If enacted, the bill will have the effect of preventing any court outside the Western states governed by the San Francisco-based appeals court...

(CNSNews.com) - In the latest round of a two-year struggle over First Amendment rights in Alabama, a federal judge on Tuesday ordered Chief Justice Roy Moore to remove a monument containing the Ten Commandments from the rotunda of the justice building in Montgomery. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson gave Moore 15 days to remove the 1.5-ton stone monument or face possible daily fines. Supporters of the monument said the decision could lead to a showdown between religious conservatives and law enforcement officials. Wendy Wright, senior policy director with Concerned Women for America, said people will be watching to see whether...

A hero in the House Posted: August 5, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com I don't get excited about politicians very often. To do so usually leads to disappointment. But I'm excited about Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., and the work he is doing to hold our federal courts accountable and restore some semblance of constitutional government to our system. He is responsible recently for introducing amendments to a House appropriations bill that would withhold funding for the enforcement of the federal court decision to remove the Ten Commandments from the Alabama Supreme Court building and for the removal of...

<p>The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to withhold funds from any enforcement action related to a federal appeals court's decision that the Ten Commandments monument in the Alabama judicial building is unconstitutional.</p> <p>By a vote of 260-161, lawmakers last week OK'd an amendment by Rep. John N. Hostettler, R-Ind., to prohibit any money in the bill funding the Justice Department from going to enforcement of the controversial decision.</p>

The Constitution offers Congress powerful means to deal with an increasingly lawless judiciary.How should we deal with a renegade federal court? This question has been asked by constitutionalists with increasing frequency in recent years, as outrageous judicial rulings accumulate.Last year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional on account of the phrase "under God." On July 1st of this year, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a District Court ruling that displaying a granite sculpture of the Ten Commandments in the Alabama Judicial Building is an unconstitutional establishment...

Congress Checkmates Runaway Courts Congress has invoked its constitutional power of the purse to block renegade federal courts. Before the House recessed last week, Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN) attached to the Commerce, State and Justice appropriations bill an amendment denying any use of federal funds to enforce the U.S. 9th Circuit Court's ruling striking down the Pledge of Allegiance as unconstitutional. The amendment passed 307-119. By a vote of 260-161, the House also approved a second Hostettler amendment barring the federal government from enforcing the 11th Circuit Court's order that Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore remove the Ten Commandments from...

<p>The House took a rare swipe at two federal appeals court decisions last week, voting to stop enforcement of rulings that public schools may not recite the Pledge of Allegiance and that a courthouse may not post the Ten Commandments.</p>