Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore suspended from office over same-sex marriage order

Court of Judiciary finds him guilty on all six counts

By Tim Lockette, Star Staff Writer, tlockette@annistonstar.com

45 min ago



A panel of judges suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore from office for the remainder of his term Friday, finding Moore guilty on all six charges related to his order telling probate judges to enforce the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Members of the Court of the Judiciary cited Moore’s “disregard for binding federal law” and “his history with this court” as their reasons for suspending the judge without pay, according to their 50-page ruling against the judge.

In January, six months after the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, Moore issued an order telling the state’s probate judges they had a “ministerial duty” to enforce Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage, due to a challenge filed in state court.

The order had little impact. Most counties continued to issue marriage licenses to all, gay and straight. Some counties don’t issue marriage licenses to anyone, but those battle lines were largely drawn before Moore’s order.

Same-sex marriage proponents filed a complaint against Moore with the state’s Judicial Inquiry Commission, arguing that by telling probate judges to defy federal court orders, Moore had violated judicial ethics. On the stand Wednesday, Moore claimed that his order was not a directive to judges, just advice.

“I would never tell them what to do, except to advise them,” Moore said Wednesday.

The nine-member court disagreed. They cited Moore’s last trial before the court – he was removed from office in 2003 after disobeying a court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the Supreme Court building in Montgomery – as evidence of a pattern of behavior.

“Chief Justice Moore’s arguments that his actions and words mean something other than what they clearly express is not a new strategy,” the judges wrote.

The order notes that Moore’s complete removal from office would require a unanimous vote, and says that a majority of judges support Moore’s suspension.

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Hearing will chart course of ethics case against suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore

August 6th, 2016

by Associated Press

In this Feb. 17, 2015, file photo, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore poses in front the the American flag in Montgomery, Ala.

Photo by Associated Press /Times Free Press.


MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A hearing set for Monday will determine the course of the judicial ethics case against suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who could be removed from office for an order he issued about same-sex marriage.

The Alabama Court of the Judiciary is scheduled to consider a request by judicial investigators to convict Moore of violating canons of conduct without a trial. That could result in Moore's immediate removal from office.

Moore opposes the request and instead wants the case thrown out, so lawyers will present arguments during a hearing in the very chamber where Moore presided as chief justice. The court has said Moore's trial will begin Sept. 28 if the case continues.

Moore, a Republican, is suspended because the Judicial Inquiry Commission filed charges accusing him of violating judicial ethics with an order to state probate judges about same-sex marriage.

Supporters and opponents of the suspended judge plan noontime rallies outside the Supreme Court building before the hearing.

Moore is a conservative Christian who opposes gay unions, but he denies any wrongdoing in office. Moore contends investigators overstepped their powers by citing him for issuing the administrative order, which came after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage nationwide.

Separately, a federal judge last week refused Moore's lawsuit to overturn his suspension. Moore sued the Judicial Inquiry Commission claiming the suspension violated his rights, but U.S. District Judge Harold Albritton ruled that he could not interfere in the state proceeding.

The ethics complaint against Moore resulted from a document he sent to probate judges statewide in January saying an Alabama Supreme Court prohibition against same-sex marriage remained in effect despite a federal judge's order to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision about six months earlier.

Moore argues he was only trying to clear up confusion about the probate judges, many of whom are not lawyers, and he has denied ordering them to violate the high court order.

Moore is again fighting to keep his job 13 years after the Court of the Judiciary removed him as chief justice for his refusal to follow a federal court order mandating the removal of a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state judicial building. Voters re-elected Moore in 2012.

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