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The Emancipation of Alabamians from Roy Moore
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 25, 2016
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 25, 2016
On May 6, 2016, the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission ("JIC") charged Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore with violating judicial cannons of ethics when he issued an administrative order in January to probate judges around the state telling them to ignore a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. It is universally recognized that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling is the supreme law of the land on any issue decided by the court.
Moore was automatically suspended from the bench with pay when the JIC filed its complaint. The Alabama Court of the Judiciary will hold a hearing this summer on the charges leveled in the JIC complaint.
For two decades, Moore, acting in his capacities as a local circuit court judge, a Supreme Court Justice, and Chief Justice, has advocated a theocratic form of government in which God is recognized as the supreme authority for the affairs of state. Under a theocracy, all state and federal laws must be interpreted in accordance with Biblical scripture, as interpreted by "Christians" like Moore. As practiced by Moore, there would be no separation of church and state, as mandated in the U.S. Constitution. For example, a decision on basic Constitutional rights, under Moore's theocracy, would be decided on the basis of the Ten Commandments and other Biblical verses.
Theocratic forms of government are nothing new. We find them in places like Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the Vatican, and Yemen. Efforts to impose a theocratic form of government in America have never been well received in this country where individual liberties are cherished. Americans simply have no desire to be ruled by self-anointed religious Ayatollahs like Roy Moore.
So, it was not surprising that only a hundred or so people attended a rally last Saturday at the Supreme Court building in support of Roy Moore. The rest of the state seems to be relieved that Alabama has been emancipated from Moore's religious grip. For the first time in nearly a year, the Alabama Supreme Court is out of the negative limelight created by Moore's self-centered "I am above the law" judicial antics. Many of Moore's judicial colleagues are also happy that he is gone.
As a judge, Moore has been a constant source of needless public embarrassment and non-stop agony for the entire state. As Chief Justice, Moore has never been able to set aside his personal aggrandizement long enough to advance the fair administration of justice for all Alabamians.
Fortunately, Moore's departure from the bench coincides with the Justice Department's well-timed removal of Montgomery U.S. Attorney George Beck from Governor Robert Bentley's ongoing criminal investigation for racketeering and public corruption activities. Through his incompetence and passivity, Beck allowed the governor's public corruption to flourish in the state. Furthermore, Beck is a close personal friend and captive minion of David Byrne, the governor's chief legal advisor and consigliere. Byrne is the attorney who lawyered Bentley into his current legal nightmare. Before that, Byrne was the executive vice president and general counsel who presided over the 2009 collapse of Colonial Bank.
Roy Moore was first removed from the Supreme Court bench in 2003 after he refused to obey a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the Supreme Court building. Moore is a repeat offender who was elected to the court in 2012 as its Chief Justice. The voters of Alabama gave Moore a second chance to do the right thing and he failed them again.
Moore has made the imposition of his personal religious beliefs on the people of Alabama the centerpiece of his judicial service. In doing so, Moore has ignored the fact that the brave men and women who founded America fled religious persecution and aristocratic rule in England and other European countries. As such, Americans have no desire to turn their democratic form of government into the theocracy advocated by Moore and his small band of cult followers.
Today, Americans are free to worship in churches, tabernacles, cathedrals, temples, synagogues, and mosques of their choice across the nation. There is no shortage of them. All of these houses of worship are sacred places. Every religion's Holy Book is sacred too. In America, we do not use the force of law to impose one religion on everybody, which is what Roy Moore's theocracy would do.
Alabama and America are better off with Roy Moore's removal from the bench. His tyrannical reign of terror was distracting and time-consuming for his fellow justices and harmful to the people of Alabama. Now that Moore is gone, Alabama's court system is free again to recognize the U.S. Constitution as the supreme law of the land.
Now that he is off the bench, Moore is free to move on to wherever Ayatollah-like religious leaders go. He can freely spread the gossip across America without any governmental restraints or interference. This is the truest form of religious liberty and our democratic form of government makes it possible for every American, including Moore, to enjoy this Constitutional right.
Meanwhile, Alabama voters will continue to focus on cleaning up public corruption in the governor's office, the legislature, and state and local governments. We are making tremendous strides in getting this job done.
Donald V. Watkins
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