LESS MOORE

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LESS MOORE

James Joyner | Thursday, November 13, 2003

The Alabama chief justice whose refusal to obey a U.S. order to move a Ten Commandments monument fueled a national debate over the place of God in public life was stripped of his office by a state judicial panel Thursday.

“FINDING NO other viable alternatives,” the state Court of the Judiciary unanimously imposed the harshest penalty possible after a one-day trial in which Moore said his refusal was a moral and lawful acknowledgment of God. Prosecutors said Moore’s defiance, left unchecked, would harm the judicial system.

Moore had been suspended since August but was allowed to collect his $170,000 annual salary. He was halfway through his six-year term.

Speaking immediately after the decision, a defiant Moore told supporters that he had only acknowledged God as was done in other official procedures and documents.

“That’s all I’ve done. I’ve been found guilty,” he said.

But presiding Judge William Thompson said in a statement read from the bench that by “willfully and publicly” ignoring the federal court order, “the chief justice placed himself above the law.”

About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.

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