Moore Heat Than Light

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Moore Heat Than Light
by James Hall, Senior Associate Editor

August 28, 2003

"Leaning Left"

James Hall "He made it sound like he stood for God and everybody who opposed him was against God. For a lot of people with simple minds, that makes perfect sense. And once he started grabbing headlines, he didn't want to let go." - Shelby Foote

Roy Moore is the talk of the nation these days, and that's a political coup for the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Moore made his reputation as the "Moses of Alabama" in 1995 as a circuit judge by putting a rosewood plaque of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom, and successfully defending the plaque against efforts to remove it. Then he parlayed his fight into a successful election campaign for the office of Alabama's Chief Justice with the slogan: "Roy Moore: Still the Ten Commandments' Judge."

But that was just the beginning of Moore's political campaign. Shortly after his election two years ago, Chief Justice Moore paid out of his own pocket for a 5,280-pound granite monument of the Ten Commandments. This he placed in the rotunda of the state's judiciary building in the middle of the night, without prior announcement, and after secretly checking for a place on the floor that could withstand the monument's weight.

Since then, Moore has turned down attempts to make "Roy's Rock" part of a broader display like those in other courthouses and government buildings that have withstood constitutional scrutiny. Instead, Justice Moore argues that the US and Alabama constitutions--as he interprets them--gives him the right to display the Ten Commandments in a government building and honor God, the foundation of our laws, and no higher court judge can tell him differently.

But Mr. Moore's refusal to comply with a properly issued judicial order, upheld in appeal, violates the very rule of law that the monument is supposed to celebrate. If it's possible for an Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice to defy another judge's lawful order, then why not the rest of us? Why can't we ordinary folk interpret the constitution to permit us to carry weapons in public places, ignore federal regulations that might violate our constitutional rights, or refuse to pay income taxes? Why can't we argue that our oath to God entitles us to print our own money and avoid paying parking tickets?

Justice Moore's eight colleagues on the Alabama Supreme Court considered these consequences and voted unanimously to remove the monument from its public place in the state judicial building. But Moore refuses to do this himself, and has been suspended by Alabama's judiciary oversight board.

Meanwhile, the judge's supporters wait outside in the building and promise to block any attempt to remove the monument from the building. They've described any attempt to remove Moses' Laws as a violation of their free exercise of religion.

How this works, I'm not quite sure. Are they still not free to worship God as they wish? Couldn't they put up the monument on private property, out in the open, anywhere in the country? When did setting up a religious monument on the public's property become a constitutional right for anyone?

But if the First Amendment does protect a religious monument set up in a public space with private funds, what's to prevent other groups from setting up their monuments? Why not a monument to Buddha, a statue of Shiva, a stone Star of David, or a cement scroll of the Koran set up in the rotunda? If the public's space is to become a place to acknowledge religions, then in fairness it must acknowledge any that apply for recognition.

Meanwhile, Roy Moore is a happy man these days, a clear political winner in this battle, even though the outcome was preordained by our constitution and constitutional law. Whether or not he is sanctioned by the oversight board, Justice Moore has captured the approval of many conservative Christians even as he drags the reputation of the nation's judges in the dirt. Expect him to make good use of this popularity in a run at a non-judicial political office, soon. ***

James Hall
Orlando, FL USA

Photo of the author courtesy of staff files