The long-awaited trial for everyone’s favorite theocrat, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, begins today in Montgomery. If the pre-trial arguments are any indication, this should be loads of fun.
On Monday, Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor recommended that Moore be removed from his position on the state high court, arguing that Moore’s decision to ignore a federal court order over removal of his Ten Commandments monument represented a flagrant violation of judicial ethics.
“Because the chief justice intentionally and publicly engaged in misconduct, and because he remains unrepentant for his behavior, this court must remove the chief justice from office to protect the Alabama judiciary and the citizens who depend upon it for fair and impartial justice,” Pryor wrote. Pryor added that Moore “flagrantly disobeyed the law, incited the public to support his misconduct and undermined the integrity, independence, and impartiality of the judiciary.”
In a sign of Moore’s continuing lunacy, Moore’s legal team is arguing that he had to ignore the federal court order because the ruling, which upheld the First Amendment and legal precedent, was itself illegal.
“Failure to comply with an order is illegal only if the order itself is legal,” Moore’s attorneys argued. The brief also said, “When a federal court tells the chief justice that he may not perform his duties as required under law it is the federal district court judge who is violating the law.”
I think this is called the “I know you are, but what am I?” legal defense.
Better yet, Moore compared Pryor’s arguments to Nazi Germany, saying that the state attorney general’s brief “shares the jurisprudence of the German judges put on trial at Nuremberg.”
The matter is going before Alabama’s Court of the Judiciary, which will begin hearing the matter this morning. If the panel rules that Moore violated judicial ethics, it can remove him from his position, or impose less stringent penalties.
The hearings, however, will not deal with the constitutionality of Moore’s religious display, no matter how much Moore’s defense will focus on his right to misuse his government office to promote his faith. Specifically, Moore is facing six ethics charges:
* Failing to respect and comply with the law
* Failing to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary
* Failing to observe high standards of conduct
* Failing to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety
* Failing to conduct himself in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity
* Failing to avoid conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice
I’ll keep you posted as to what happens. For what it’s worth, my prediction is that Moore, assuming he continues to mount an insane defense, will be found in violation of at least most of the ethics charges, will get booted from the bench, will become an even-bigger religious right martyr, and will run for governor in 2006. Stay tuned.