LAW OF THE LAND
Alabama voters file suit to restore Moore
Claim 'disenfranchised' by unelected panel that ousted chief justice
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Posted: November 20, 2003
6:35 p.m. Eastern
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
Supporters of "10 Commandments judge" Roy Moore are filing a federal lawsuit to restore him to his position as Alabama's chief justice.
Five Alabama voters allege in the suit their constitutional rights were violated when an unelected panel removed Moore, an elected state official, last week.
Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor (Photo: WSFA.com)
Alabama's nine-member Court of the Judiciary removed Moore Nov. 13 for defiance of a federal judge's order to move a 10 Commandments monument he installed in the rotunda of the state courthouse two years ago. Moore has not decided whether to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court. If the ruling stands, Gov. Bob Riley will appoint a new chief justice.
One of the plaintiffs, Christian talk show host Kelly McGinley of Mobile, Ala., alleges Moore's removal "disenfranchised" her as a voter.
Attorney General Bill Pryor, who successfully prosecuted Moore, is named as a defendant in the suit. Also named are the state of Alabama; the Judicial Inquiry Commission, which brought the charges; the Court of Judiciary; and state Comptroller Robert Childree, whose office pays state officials.
"It is deeply troubling to have an appointed, unelected commission remove an elected official from office," said Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, in a statement. "The Court of Judiciary has overturned an election and crushed the democratic process through their actions."
At a church meeting in suburban Kansas City yesterday, Moore once again emphasized his belief the country should acknowledge God has a place in public life.
"We need to wake up to what this country is about, and quit thinking that God dwells in temples made of hands," Moore said, according to the Associated Press. "We think we can contain him within four walls of a church. I think this is an egregious error."
Moore was asked by the pastor of the congregation, Jerry Johnston of First Family Church in Overland, Kan., if he thinks God will judge America.
"I think if God doesn't judge America, he'd have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah," Moore said, according to the AP.
But he remains optimistic.
"I know that it seems impossible, but just as it seems impossible, God starts to work," he said. "The question before America is will we acknowledge the God on which this nation was founded."
Yesterday, the state's acting Chief Justice Gorman Houston claimed Moore owes Alabama the $7,000 it cost to move his monument into a storage room.
Roy Moore (Photo: WSFA.com)
At a news conference, he claimed Moore had agreed to costs of moving the 5,300 pound granite monument in and out of the Alabama Judicial Building where Moore installed it two years ago.
Moore fired back with a statement, however, insisting it is Houston who cost Alabama an unnecessary expense by being so anxious to move it out of public view.
On Monday, Moore announced he is proposing federal legislation to reassert the power he insists Congress already has to limit the jurisdiction of federal courts.
As WorldNetDaily reported, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ordered removal of the washing machine-sized monument on Aug. 5, ruling it violates the Constitution's ban on government establishment of religion.
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."
On Aug. 28, state workers moved the monument from the rotunda of the Judicial Building to a non-public back room.
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