There’s a chance Act Two of Roy Moore’s service as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court the same way Act One did – with him tossed out of office.
Advertisement
They stem from Moore’s efforts to prevent same-sex marriage in Alabama, even after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision last summer that legalized it throughout the country.
The complaint against Chief Justice Roy Moore is now in the hands of the Court of the Judiciary, which will oversee his trial.
Moore himself has likened the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling to Nazi oppression and has tapped Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver, the Religious Right activist who used freaky legal arguments to defend Kentucky clerk Kim Davis in her unsuccessful attempt to flout the Supreme Court on marriage equality, to represent him in the case. If found guilty, he could face a range of penalties including being removed from the office of Chief Justice.
In a statement Friday, Moore said the JIC “had no authority” over administrative orders related to probate judges. That court will hear the complaint against Moore and could remove him from office for good.
“The [Judicial Inquiry Commission] has chosen to listen to people like Ambrosia Starling, a professed transvestite, and other gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals, as well as organizations which support their agenda. We intend to fight this agenda vigorously and expect to prevail”, Moore said.
Richard Cohen, president of the SPLC, said in a phone interview Monday Moore was playing “word games”.
“He is such an egomaniac and such a religious zealot that he thinks he can ignore court orders with impunity”, said Cohen. “For the sake of our state, he should be kicked out of office”.
Moore was ousted from the bench in 2003 for refusing to remove from public property a monument of the Ten Commandments which he had commissioned.
Moore regained the position in 2012.
Moore has 30 days to respond to the charges involving gay marriage.
In February 2015, after US District Judge Callie Granade ruled that Alabama’s policies against same-sex marriage were unconstitutional, Moore still told probate judges that they were not obligated to issue any licenses, Ameri Publications reported. His attorney, Matt Staver, said the orders reflected “a disagreement between state and federal courts on an issue”.
The complaint says, “Chief Justice Moore flagrantly disregarded and abused his authority as chief administrative officer of Alabama’s judicial branch”. While most judges continued to issue licenses to gay couples, some made a decision to stop approving marriage licenses completely.
Advertisement
The post Alabama judge suspended over order to deny gay couples marriage licenses appeared first on PBS NewsHour. He argued that issuing same-sex marriage licenses would violate the Alabama Constitution.
