Chief Justice Roy Moore of the Alabama Supreme court has had what can charitably be called a checkered career—all based on his right-wing and hyper-religious views that repeatedly tainted his rulings. In 2003, he was removed as Chief Justice for disobeying a federal court order that he remove a monument to the Ten Commandments from the courthouse grounds. He regained this Chief Justice-ship in 2012 by election, which shows you something about the political climate of Alabama. (The state elects its Chief Justices.)
He hadn’t learned his lesson, though, and didn’t keep his big yap shut. A year later, at a Pro-Life luncheon, he proclaimed that the First Amendment applied only to Christians (see my post here), for, after all, it was God and not Buddha or Mohamed who created us.
And then big trouble: in February of last year, Moore ordered that state employees ignore a federal court ruling that Alabama must issue licenses for gay marriage (see post here). Most employees, however, ignored Moore and issued the licenses anyway.
Now, according to the Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser (see also yesterday’s article in the New York Times), an inquiry by the state Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC) has led to Moore’s suspension from the bench, and possibly to his permanent removal as Chief Justice—again! (I don’t know if he faces permanent removal from the court.) He faces charges of not only violating ethical rules, but abrogating other duties:
The Judicial Inquiry Commission accuses Moore of failing to act with impartiality and refusing to follow “clear law” in issuing his Jan. 6 order, which came six months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down bans on same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges. Moore is also charged with acting while a lawsuit over the constitutionality of same-sex marriage was pending before the court.
. . . The charges state that Moore “knowingly ordered” the state’s probate judges “to commit violations of the Canons of Judicial Ethics and “abandoned his role as a neutral and detached chief administrator of the judicial system.”
Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which filed the complaint, said the Court of the Judiciary should remove Moore “for the good of the state.”
“Moore has disgraced his office for far too long,” the statement said. “He’s such a religious zealot, such an egomaniac that he thinks he doesn’t have to follow federal court rulings he disagrees with.”
Indeed. The man just can’t stop proselytizing, or tainting his decisions with his faith, completely ignoring what the higher federal courts say. Here’s one example of his inability to control himself and follow the law:
The chief justice, an outspoken social conservative, has made no secret of his feelings on same-sex marriage. In March, Moore said proposed American Bar Association rule change intended to expand protections for LGBT individuals was “subordinating an attorney’s ethical duties to the sexual orthodoxy du jour.”
And from Wikipedia, on the fight over the Ten Commandments monument:
Additionally, Moore acknowledged an explicit religious intent in placing the monument, agreeing that the monument “reflects the sovereignty of God over the affairs of men” and “acknowledge[s] God’s overruling power over the affairs of men.” However, in Moore’s view this did not violate the doctrine of separation of church and state; as the presiding judge later summarized it, Moore argued that “the Judeo-Christian God reigned over both the church and the state in this country, and that both owed allegiance to that God”, although they must keep their affairs separate.
This man, though he may be the Pride of Alabama, is a Disgrace to America. He should not be serving as a justice at all, much less chief justice. His continuing popularity in the state is a source of shame to those Alabamans who maintain any adherence to Enlightenment values.
I hope they dump his sorry tuchus.
At least he is standing up for what’s wrong?
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Yes, he’s is standing up for what’s wrong. He should be replaced by someone who will stand up for what’s right.
Fear motivates the most intelligent of men to do things they would never consider otherwise. i hope he is removed from office for his own good and the good of his state
When this Christians only quote was falsely attributed to Scalia, and I disputed the claim, there was no retraction.
I guess it goes without saying, but Moore doesn’t seem like a very bright man.
What a Dickhead!
Wow, an Alabama Ayatollah.
What should also be a source of shame is the very notion that judges should be elected by popular vote. It’s hard to imagine anything more likely to guarantee the corruption of the legal process by compromising its impartiality.
That could also be said of sherrifs. Case in question, Joe Arpaio.
So, so true!
Always remember – As crazy as this guy really is, the people of Alabama voted him back in after he was removed back in 2003. There are thousands just like him, they just don’t happen to be supreme court justices.
Also, this is another good example why judges should not be elected by the general public.
Well, appointments are just problematic. I could see Ted Cruz appointing this nut case to the Supreme Court had he been elected and a Republican Senate confirming.
At the state level such as this, it would most likely be the governor but I would recommend a group or committee of Lawyers. You know…people who actually know what judges do and who might qualify. People on the street deciding on judges just makes the job pure politics, which it is not suppose to be.
Hili, speaking in British English: No Moore.
T: No more of what?
Hili: No Moore of Twat.
In 2012 Moore was voted back in by a narrow margin IMO, 51.76 % to 48.23% for Democrat Robert S. Vance. Some of us are progressive in Alabama.
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Leave him on the Court. . . if they kick him off, he will just run for Governor.
It may gratify you to know what Judge Moore’s legal counsel, Matthew Staver, is a young-earth creationist. It all just goes together.
Staver’s group, Liberty Council, represented Kim Davis, the county clerk from Kentucky who went to jail for refusing to issue same-sex marriage certificates.
As I said recently in a different context – punishments like this don’t act as a deterrent, because the person doesn’t believe that he’s doing anything wrong.
He probably lets isolationist “militia” groups buy and keep anti-aircraft missiles and tanks “for protection of their homes and property.” All part of the same nexus of hyper-religion, extreme-right-wingery, gun-nuttery, and anti-choice for women in anything.
The South sounds a lot like Arizona, where I was born.
Roy Moore is the American Taliban archetype, attempting to legislate his own brand of Christian Sharia law from the bench.
How is the JIC staffed?