Alabama theocrat and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore may have lost the legal fight over his Ten Commandments monument, but he’s by no means gone from the public stage.
As many newspapers reported today, Moore would like to see his granite Decalogue display moved, not back to the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building, but to the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
In recent weeks, state lawmakers in Mississippi and North Carolina had contacted Moore to see if they could take the monument off his hands. I suspect public officials in those states knew they’d face similar lawsuits, which they’d no doubt lose, but maybe they’d enjoy the publicity.
In any event, Moore rejected their overtures. Apparently, he had a more prestigious locale in mind.
Moore was in DC last week to meet with unnamed federal lawmakers about his agenda and desire to see his shrine under the Capitol dome. In a statement issued yesterday, Moore said bringing the monument to the Hill would allow Congress to “restore the balance of power between the branches of government.” Whatever that means.
He added that his religious monument “represents the moral foundation of law and the acknowledgment of God upon whom our nation and organic law are predicated.” In case you’re interested, Marci Hamilton, one of my favorite law professors, published an excellent essay on this issue, noting that these claims “are not consistent with the historical record.”
Suffice to say, the same lawsuit that forced Roy’s rock from the rotunda in Montgomery would be refilled to challenge the constitutionality of displaying the Commandments monument in Congress. For all of the same reasons Moore lost in Alabama, Moore would lose again if the case was reheard.
Nevertheless, politicians hoping to appear pious seemed to think this was a great idea. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who may be a little worried about facing Moore in a GOP primary race next year, issued a statement calling on Congress to accept Moore’s “gracious offer.”
House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said yesterday that his office had not yet received a formal invitation to bring the monument to the Capitol, so he wasn’t prepared to make a comment on whether the move would take place. Hastert’s spokesperson, however, wanted reporters to know that the Speaker keeps a copy of the Ten Commandments in his office.
Meanwhile, Moore has also considered and rejected a proposal from Alabama Gov. Bob Riley (R) to bring Roy’s rock back the rotunda of the state judicial building, but to make the display more constitutional, the Commandments would be featured alongside the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, and the Declaration of Independence.
Surprisingly, Moore hated the idea, even though it would allow his precious icon of state-sponsored religion back to central location. Why? Because he wants a government-endorsed religious display that is purely religious.
“To put things around the Ten Commandments and secularize it is to deny the greatness of God,” Moore said.
Well, Moore is a nut, but he’s an ideologically consistent nut. Most religious right activists are willing to tolerate these multi-document displays so they can, at a minimum, try and get the Ten Commandments some degree of official state sponsorship. They’ll argue that these displays are legal because they are not, in and of themselves, religious. (I’d disagree with this analysis, but that’s another post for another day.)
But Moore sees the opposite. He sees displays with historical documents alongside the Decalogue and fears religion being “secularized.”
On this, he and I can agree. In fact, it’s a terrific reason so many people of faith embrace the principle of church-state separation. Maybe there’s hope for Moore yet.