Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was removed from office today in response to his ill-advised and theologically suspect attempt to govern Alabama’s courts using the Ten Commandments instead of the US Constitution.
You’ll remember that after a federal court ordered Moore’s Ten Commandments monument removed from the Alabama Supreme Court he defied the court order saying that his view of Scripture was more important than the rule of law.
Yesterday during a hearing on his future before a judicial review panel he declared:
"I would do everything I've done again. I stand by what I've done."
Americans United for the Seperation of Church and State took a different view:
“This is an open-and-shut case,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which helped bring the legal challenge against Moore’s display. “Facing a federal court order to remove the Ten Commandments, Roy Moore publicly announced that he would not do so. His guilt is not in dispute.”Moore’s attorneys have told the Court of Judiciary that Moore was required to defy the federal court order because it was illegal. Lynn called that position “remarkably wrongheaded.”
Commented Lynn, “Is it nothing short of amazing that this late in the day Moore’s attorneys continue to make off-the-wall, long-discredited arguments challenging the authority of the federal courts. Their position is wholly without merit and should be rejected out of hand.
“The Court of the Judiciary should vote to remove Moore from the Alabama Supreme Court,” said Lynn. “Leadership of the state high court must rest in the hands of someone who is willing to uphold the rule of law.”