© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
In a pretrial brief, Alabama Attorney
General Bill Pryor (nominated by President Bush for the federal
judiciary) requested Chief Justice Roy Moore be removed from office
for defying a federal judge's order to move a granite Ten
Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial
Building.
Moore is scheduled to appear tomorrow before the state Court of
the Judiciary in a trial-like proceeding where he faces a number of
possible outcomes, from exoneration to removal from office.
Roy Moore speaking to supporters and
press in August (Photo: WSFA.com) |
In his brief, Pryor said the judge should be removed because
he "intentionally and publicly engaged in misconduct, and because he
remains unrepentant for his behavior."
The chief justice should receive the severest penalty for his
"sensational flouting of a valid federal injunction," Pryor wrote.
Moore, who was
suspended with pay Aug. 22, said he is "concerned about the
court's appearance" of bias, but he would not say whether he
believed a fair trial is possible.
"I certainly have my personal opinion," he said, according to the
Mobile Register.
Asked if he would reveal it, he responded with a smile, "Well ...
no."
On Aug. 5,
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ordered removal of the
washing machine-sized monument by Aug. 20. Thompson had ruled it
violates the Constitution's ban on government establishment of
religion and must be removed from its public place in the rotunda.
Moore refused to remove the monument, declaring, "The point is,
it's not about violation of order, it's about violation of my oath
of office."
"And my oath of office to the Constitution requires an
acknowledgment of God," he said. "It's that simple."
As
WorldNetDaily reported the monument, which Moore installed two
years ago, was moved Aug. 28 from the rotunda of the Judicial
Building to a non-public back room.
Meanwhile, supporters have organized a "Save the Commandments and
Keep Chief Justice Moore Tour" that began Sunday and will conclude
tomorrow in front of the judicial building in Montgomery.
Tour organizer Rob Schenk said the purpose is to "bring the
principles at stake here into the public arena once again."
Schenk said he is most concerned about upholding the right of
Americans "to acknowledge the sovereignty of God over our land."
"Secular nations have one thing in common – mass graves, and the
reason is that they believe the government is the final arbiter of
right and wrong and good and evil," he said.
Moore is not alone in his struggle to promote the Ten
Commandments. Some two dozen similar disputes have gone to court
since 2000.
Moore's battle grabbed worldwide attention as hundreds of
supporters held a vigil at the judicial building for several days
prior to and after the monument's removal.
Evangelical leader James Dobson and former U.N. Ambassador Alan
Keyes rallied Decalogue backers from all over the country.
Moore has since declined offers to display the monument in
Mississippi and North Carolina, but recently
met with congressional members to discuss exhibiting the marker on
Capitol Hill.
In a show of support for Moore, the
Christian Coalition of Alabama
organized a caravan to Washington with planned rallies in cities
along the way.
