Judge Moore will appeal to Supreme Court

July 22, 2003

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore announced today he will attempt to take his controversial Ten Commandments-monument case directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore

Moore said he will not seek further hearings from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, which ruled unanimously earlier this month a 2? ton granite monument he placed in the rotunda of the judiciary building in Montgomery must be removed.

The court said it represented a government promotion of a particular religion, in violation of the First Amendment.

“I will personally petition the United States Supreme Court as chief justice of this state to hear me on this matter,” Moore said in a statement.

Monument of Ten Commandments

John Giles, president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama said his group “will not rest until the preservation of this monument bearing the moral foundation of our law is safely secured.”

“The language in the 11th Circuit’s order is a radical and historic departure from the bench,” Giles said in a statement. “Is the monument, the Ten Commandments or Chief Justice Moore on trial? This must be challenged to the fullest extent.”

Despite the appeals’ court’s order, July 1, Moore vowed to keep the monument in place, telling reporters, “We must defend our rights and preserve our constitution.”

“For the federal courts to adopt the agenda of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and to remove the knowledge of God and morality from our lives is wrong,” he said.

Moore wrote a treatise on his battle to retain the monument in this month’s Whistleblower magazine, WND’s monthly print publication.

In its decision, the appeals court panel compared Moore to Southern officials and governors of the past who refused to integrate schools after being ordered to do so by federal courts. The court also predicted Moore would lose if he appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

The chief justice, who has become known as the “Ten Commandments judge,” was sued by the ACLU after placing the monument in the courthouse in the middle of the night in July 2001.

The four-foot tall monument features the Commandments inscribed on two tablets along with historical quotations.

Editor’s note: Chief Justice Roy Moore is one of the key writers in the July issue of WND’s acclaimed Whistleblower magazine. Titled “THE CONSTITUTION: America’s ultimate battleground,” this special issue explores whether the Constitution is still America’s “supreme law of the land.” In his article, “Putting God back in the public square,” Justice Moore explains to Whistleblower’s readers what the 1st Amendment is really all about.

Subscribe to Whistleblower, starting with “THE CONSTITUTION: America’s ultimate battleground.”