WP: Alabama Judge Relents on Monument

Saturday, August 23, 2003; Page A01

MONTGOMERY, Ala., Aug. 22 -- After defying a federal court order and drawing hundreds of cheering Christian activists to this capital city, Alabama's crusading chief justice conceded today and said that he will not try to block the removal of his two-ton Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Supreme Court building.

"He will not interfere," Stephen Melchior, the lead attorney for Chief Justice Roy S. Moore, said in an interview.

Moore's concession was not enough, however, to stop the Alabama Judiciary Inquiry Commission from suspending him with pay for violating the federal court order. The commission referred a complaint about Moore to the Alabama Court of the Judiciary, which can hold hearings and discipline or remove judges.

(snip)

It increasingly appears that the monument will be moved to a nonpublic area of the court building. Associate justices have even been investigating whether it is heavy enough to crash through the unreinforced floors in private offices and elevators. Despite those signals, activists outside the courthouse remained wary that the monument would eventually be taken out of the building. They are maintaining 24-hour watches and vowing to risk arrest to keep it inside.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33748-2003Aug22.html

Since the entire building is public, I wonder what that could be? As a former Alabama resident, I paid plenty of taxes to help support that building. It's all public.

Or maybe the boiler room, which will simulate the heat Roy Moore will endure when his sorry ass burns in hell .......

:-)

Where's his convictions given in like that?

What religion was Ghandi it wasn't that whimpy Christian schtick for sure. Martin Luther King's name has been sullied to boot.

trumped his religious convictions, big time.

Now even his wild-eyed supporters can see him for what he is -- a slick opportunist.

mm

:shrug:

Would be nice to know more details of what was discussed in that phone call this morning.

Or better yet, a Supreme Court appointment! After all, that judge Pryor is just too liberal.

The big controversy with his nomination was whether or not he would uphold the law if it conflicted with his religious beliefs.

It's going to be harder to argue against his appointment now.

:tinfoilhat:

acting all it's-all-about-the-law. It seemed almost plotted and scripted to show up his critics. Well, I do believe that it was at least milked for all it was worth--we shall see if he or Hatch holds it up as model behavior later.

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Heard of it?

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Separarion of church and state is purely governmental and absolutely constitutional. Remember the constitution? That thing Judge Moore swore to uphold? Nobody gives a damn what you or Judge Moore does in private or in your respective churches, but what you do on taxpayer time and on taxpayer property IS our business and it had better be constitutional - period!

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He brought discredit to the insttituion he represents. In a self-serving, demogogic manner, he played on the backwardness of his "constituency" and created a divisive public crucible that bennefits no one but himself. He embarrassed all the 'thinking' citizens of his state and once more made Alabama a laughing-stock. Three cheers for Judge Moore.

Your argument doesn't make any sense. This has nothing to do with culture. This has to do with the government. There is a massive difference. I have nothing wrong with people being religious and having religion be part of their daily lives. However, I don't want them using the government to force it on me. By having those Ten Commandments in the courthouse he is basically saying that it is a christian courthouse or at least a judeo-christian courthouse and it insults all people that aren't jewish or christian.

The stuff about the founding fathers is just stupid. Just because they referred to God in their private lives doesn't mean they wanted religion to be part of the government. If that were the case than it would mean that every single religious person in the country believes that the ten commandments should be in that courthouse and that certainly isn't the case.

Democrats aren't on the anti-God side, they are on the pro-constitution side. Politically, it actually helps us since most people are pro-constitution and I would even think that most people don't want the ten commandments in a courthouse.

If anything, the Democrats' pro-Constitution stance actually protects those of you who worship God(s), not just agnostics such as myself. Why? Because the moment that the government decides it wants to be in charge of religious activities in this country (thus violating the Constitution), it then has the right to tell you when to pray, how to pray, where to pray, and to whom to pray. My strictly religious Baptist grandmother was also a Democrat because she said there was NO WAY she was going to let the government dictate her religious practices.

If you really want to protect your God and your right to worship as you see fit, you should vote Democrat!

Thomas Jefferson, for instance, thought the bible was crap. He even wrote his own version of the bible.

Don't use the founding fathers in your argument.

I am glad that Moore's rock is being removed. He didn't do it for a profession of faith, but to start a controversy to pad the wallets of religious groups' leaders. Tim Wilmon's AFA's coffers grow as a result of this bullshit.

And, if you are a believer, what do you think about what Jesus said about prayer not being a public event?

Moore's rock is also about pride, another folly that will sure earn him a ticket on the express train to hell. He is no good Christian, that's for sure.

and could mean Zeus.

The word "Christian" is found NO where in the Bill of Rights or the Constitution.
Had it been a Hindu judge putting a 5000 lb monument of an 8 armed goddess into the courthouse, I would have been JUST AS MUCH AGAINST IT.
Many a Catholic in MY family are furious at Moore. After all, it was the Protestant version of the 10 Cs he put up, NOT the Catholic version.

He's a world-class asshole who is not even fit to be a dog catcher.

(And BTW, Moore and many of his followers probably are of the belief that you as a Catholic are not a Christian - you're a member of a cult. Many of the more extreme fundamentalists feel that way.)

Also, can anyone confirm that the particular branch of protestantism that Moore follows believes that the Pope is the antichrist?

You see, Monocoque, if Moore IS one of those protestants, then YOUR religion (Catholic) could very well be banned, as part of Moore's "standing up for god".

Of course you wouldn't like that, would you?

I don't know about the second part of your question. I believe he is Baptist, but I am not sure about that.

There are southern Christian denominations that vilify Catholics. This used to be more common than it is now. My mother grew up being taught that Catholics were not Christians "because they worship Mary". She was in college before she learned differently.

I do not know Moore's stand on Catholics, but I do know that he belongs to a denomination that believes that any Jew who dies without converting to Christianity is damned to eternal suffering.:eyes:

the dead of the night and without any input from the people or legal system?

Is that really a good way to stand up for one's religion? By being a judge who ignores the rule of law?

As someone who is devoutly religous, although hard to peg in any particular one, I don't think that a judge breaking the law is the kinda guy that should be praised for his piety.

But he will do his job in carrying out the court order he says. He make it crystal-clear he supports the commandments remaining.

He is being considered by Dubya for a position in the 11th circuit court (I'm not sure about the number)...

He admitted that he supported Roy Moore's position, but he would follow the orders of Federal judges.

So he actually supports display of religious scriptures in government buildings. He is no different from Moore - but to save his job, he is following orders...

He should not be nominated to any court.

wonder what I would get if "I" disobeyed a judge's order?

20 day sentence in the Baldwin county Jail (for trying to get my son out of his mother's home where he's been abused - custody case) AND a Year in the Baldwin County Jail for TALKING TO MY SON ON THE PHONE FROM CALIFORNIA. No Evidence - nada - nothing - ziltch..

Both are on Appeal, and guess where theses cases are headed?

Up the legal stream to those creatures at the top of the legal food chain in Alabama..

like I said, I need a FIRST RATE FIRST Amendment lawyer who wants a poster boy for Beat Dead Dads, let's hit 60 Minutes, I've got the goods and history.

I'm going to call this "Moore's Folly".. it needs a good tag :)

thats harsh. Funny how the extreme right always gets cushy "punishments". Can you imagine if it were a moderate judge.