archy

Moore update
It seems to be a slow day in the blogosphere today. Although there is plenty to talk about, many of us are experiencing outrage overload and need to take some time off. This seems like a good time check in our old friend former judge Roy Moore and his crusade to relegalize God in America. Somebody once told Roy that believing in God had become illegal in America. Despite the fact that Roy was a judge and had all the legal tools in the world at his fingertips, he never figured out that they were just pulling his leg.

Things were looking pretty good for Roy last month, his lawsuit to be restored to the Alabama Supreme Court was moving along, he was making a lot of money on the lecture circuit, the candidates in the upcoming Alabama Supreme Court elections were defining themselves as pro- and anti-Roy, with his former spokesman leading the pack, and a fringe party was courting him to become their presidential candidate. He was in the public eye and had plenty of options. But last week, things took a turn for the worse. On Friday a specially convened court unanimously decided against his suit and a group of Alabama citizens announced their own suit to get Roy repay the state of Alabama for some of the money they have wasted on Roy’s adventures in constitutional law.

In a nice twist of the knife, the court’s written opinion cited Bible verses as well as law on explaining their decision.

"The evidence of Chief Justice Moore's violations of the Canons of Judicial Ethics was sufficiently strong and convincing that the Court of the Judiciary could hardly have done otherwise than to impose the penalty of removal from office," the opinion said.

[…]

Special Supreme Court Justice Harry J. Wilters wrote a two-page addition to the court's opinion that cited six Bible verses on obeying the law.

Among the verses was I Peter 2:13: "Submit yourselves to every human institution for the sake of the Lord."

Moore took his defeat with the same dignity that we have come to expect from him. He denied the legitimacy of the court and its decision and called the decision politically motivated. He will, of course, appeal to the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the Constitution Party is getting tired of waiting for Roy to make up his mind. They already have an announced candidate, Michael Peroutka, who has said he will step aside if Moore wants the job. But there is a deadline. The Party needs to secure its place on various state ballots (they claim to already have forty states), and they have a convention coming up. Peroutka is going about his business as if he will be the candidate; today he is announcing his running mate. Soon it will be too late for Roy to take over. After that, he’ll be out of a job and soon after that his fifteen minutes of fame will end. Then what will he do for attention?