Alabama Judge Roy Moore was removed from the bench for not issuing gay marriage licenses
Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was removed from the bench Friday for defying the U.S. Supreme Court on gay marriage, the second time in his career.
Moore, 69, is an outspoken Christian who is defying the Obergefell vs. Hodges ruling when he told Alabama’s probate judges that they were still bound by a 2015 state court order to deny marriage licenses to gays and lesbians.
“Beyond question, at the time he issued the January 6, 2016 order, Chief Justice Roy Moore knew about Obergefell and its clear holding that the United States Constitution protects the right of same-sex couples to marry,” the court wrote in the unanimous decision.
Voters re-elected Moore after an ousting in 2013 over his defense of a 2 ½ ton Ten Commandments monument installed in the state judicial building.
By suspending Moore for the rest of his term, the nine-member Alabama Court of the Judiciary has effectively removed him from office. The 50-page decision indicated that a majority of justices wanted to completely remove Moore – not just suspend him without pay – but they didn’t have the unanimous agreement.
“Moore was elected to be a judge, not a preacher. It’s something that he never seemed to understand. The people of Alabama who cherish the rule of law are not going to miss the Ayatollah of Alabama,” said Richard Cohen, of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
A lawyer for Moore called the decision a “miscarriage of justice” and announced an appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court.
“The rule of law should trump political agendas. Sadly, today that is not the case. What this decision tells us today is that Montgomery has a long way to go to weed out abuse of political power and restore the rule of law,” said attorney Mat Staver, who also represented Kentucky clerk Kim Davis in her refusal to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
Testifying under oath Wednesday, Moore stands firm, stating that he was simply noting a fact – that the Alabama Supreme Court’s order affirming the state’s marriage ban had not been lifted.
“I gave them a status in the case, a status of the facts that these orders exist. That is all I did,” Moore testified.
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