Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore


Alabama’s Homophobe and Asshole in Chief, state Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, has been suspended for refusing to acknowledge the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last summer recognizing marriage equality nationwide.
The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission, in a filing released Friday, May 6, wrote, “Chief Justice Moore flagrantly disregarded and abused his authority as the chief administrative officer of Alabama’s judicial branch.
As reported by The Washington Post, Moore faces six charges of violating judicial ethics, all stemming for his Jan. 6 order telling state probate judges — the ones who issue marriage licenses in Alabama — that they have a “ministerial duty” to abide by state law (even though a federal Supreme Court ruling overrides state law) limiting marriage to opposite-sex cases.
The commission ruled that Moore’s order violated not only the June 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, but two other court decisions as well.
As a result of the ruling, Moore is automatically suspended from the bench. The state Court of the Judiciary will ultimately decide whether Moore is guilty of violating judicial ethics.
Moore was removed from his seat as state Supreme Court chief justice in 2003 after refusing a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument he had erected in the state judicial building in Montgomery. But the people of Alabama re-elected him 2012.
Last week’s ruling is a result of complaints filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In a statement following the ruling, SPLC President Richard Cohen said, “Moore has disgraced his office for far too long. He’s such a religious zealot, such an egomaniac that he thinks he doesn’t have to follow federal court rulings he disagrees with. For the good of the state, he should be kicked out of office. … We look forward to his trial in the Court of the Judiciary and his eventual removal from office once again.”
Moore, for his part, accused the Judicial Inquiry Commission of being influenced by LGBT rights advocates, saying “The JIC has chosen to listen to people like Ambrosia Starling, a professed transvestite, and other gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals, as well as organizations which support their agenda. We intend to fight this agenda vigorously and expect to prevail.”
Starling, the Post explained, is a self-described drag queen who Moore has singled out before, suggesting that she suffers from mental illness and alleging that she performed an “illegal” wedding ceremony. A local Unitarian Universalist minister, the Rev. Fred Hammond, disputed that latter claim in a blog post late last month, saying that it was he who performed the cerem