NEWS STORY: Alabama’s Supreme Court Justices: Move Ten Commandments Monument

c. 2003 Religion News Service MONTGOMERY, Ala. _ Alabama’s Supreme Court associate justices overruled their chief justice Thursday (Aug. 21) and ordered that the Ten Commandments monument he hoped to keep in the judicial building be removed. Their decision followed Wednesday’s refusal by the U.S. Supreme Court to delay a district judge’s order that Chief […]

c. 2003 Religion News Service

MONTGOMERY, Ala. _ Alabama’s Supreme Court associate justices overruled their chief justice Thursday (Aug. 21) and ordered that the Ten Commandments monument he hoped to keep in the judicial building be removed.

Their decision followed Wednesday’s refusal by the U.S. Supreme Court to delay a district judge’s order that Chief Justice Roy Moore should remove the monument from the rotunda.


After meeting in a special conference, all eight associate justices ordered the manager of the judicial building to “take all steps necessary” to comply with the order “as soon as practicable.”

As tensions over the controversial monument continued, some protesters had been arrested after refusing to leave the court building while others maintained a round-the-clock prayer vigil.

“The refusal of officers of this court to obey a binding order of a federal court of competent jurisdiction would impair the authority and ability of all of the courts of this state to enforce their judgments,” the associate justices wrote in a seven-page order.

They also cited the possibility of “substantial, escalating, daily fines” against the state. In his order, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson had said he could fine Alabama $5,000 a day in the first week after the order deadline of Wednesday and perhaps double after that. Thompson originally ruled in November that the monument was unconstitutional.

Moore, appearing outside the judicial building Thursday afternoon, said he would again ask the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve the issues of the case.

“I was very disappointed with my colleagues on the court,” he told a cheering crowd. “Let me assure, the fight to defend our constitutional rights to acknowledge God must and will continue.”

He said acknowledging God is his “duty.”

“Not only does Judge Thompson put himself above the law but above God as well,” he said.


The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, applauded the associate justices for their decision.

“This is a huge step in the right direction,” said Lynn, whose organization is one of the groups that sued to force removal of the 5,300-pound granite monument.

“Moore is increasingly isolated in his defiance of the federal court,” Lynn said. “His own colleagues realize he’s gotten far out on a legal limb, and they want no part of it.”

But some of those who have been supporting Moore remain staunchly on his side.

“My feeling is that Judge Moore should continue to stand firm against the ruling that’s been handed down for him to remove the commandments,” said Billy McCormack, a board member of the Christian Coalition of America, in an interview. “I think he goes in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr., who at great personal risk defied the laws of the state.”

Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., agreed.

“This is just one more assault on the values of this nation,” said Jones, reacting to the associate justices’ decision in a statement. “To think that our nation’s lawmakers would ever turn their backs on the very moral foundation of our country is just heartbreaking.”

About 20 protesters, part of a group that has vowed to block removal of the monument by civil disobedience, were arrested Wednesday after refusing to leave the court building and jailed on trespassing charges. Most were released the same day.


On Thursday, Attorney General Bill Pryor announced that access to the building had been limited to those with official court business. Pryor thanked the associate justices in a statement.

“Although I continue to believe that the Ten Commandments are the cornerstone of our legal heritage and can be displayed constitutionally as they are in the building of the Supreme Court of the United States, this controversy is no longer one involving a debate in the federal courts,” he said. “The Supreme Court of Alabama has now spoken and ordered compliance with the federal injunction.”

Members of the Washington-based Christian Defense Coalition continued their prayer vigil outside the building Thursday.

Several hundred supporters gathered on the judicial building steps at a prayer, hand-clapping and singing rally Wednesday night.

“Remember, every minute that monument stays there past 5 p.m. today, we count it as a victory,” said the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition.

His group vowed to block anyone’s efforts to remove the monument.

“While we are here, this monument will not leave the court,” he said. “I believe our peaceful, prayerful response will prevent it.”


While the protest continued, lawyers for the plaintiffs who sued Moore filed a motion to hold the chief justice in contempt of the court order.

Joe Conn, a spokesman for Americans United, said the motion would remain in the court despite the associate justices’ subsequent decision.

“We want to keep that in place because we don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.

(Bailey reported from Montgomery, Banks from Washington.)

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