The court order was regarding gay marriage — the Federal court ruled that the Supreme Court had legalized gay marriage, so the State of Alabama had to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Judge Moore then issued an order to county probate judges telling them they didn’t need to obey the Federal court order because state judges didn’t need to comply with opinions of the United States SUpreme Court.
That, of course, is utter balderdash — that’s a question that got settled in a little fracas between 1861 and 1865, over 150 years ago. The Court of the Judiciary rightly called foul. At which point Judge Moore and his supporters started whining that the court was in the thrall of gay agenda yada yada yada.
So is it true? I read the final decision of the Court of the Judiciary, which is charged with policing the judiciary. Every single justification put forth for suspending Judge Moore for the remainder of his term (which, essentially, is forever, because he will not be eligible to run again) had nothing to do with gays or gay marriage. Every single legal justification examines specifically whether Judge Moore, in fact, ordered county probate judges to ignore a Federal court order, and whether such an order was legal or authorized by the Alabama Constitution or within his power as a single sitting judge on the Alabama Supreme Court. Furthermore, many of the members of this court don’t even agree with the Supreme Court’s June 2015 ruling legalizing gay marriage. Rather, the question was whether Judge Moore had violated the Canons of Judicial Ethics adopted by the Alabama Supreme Court, as required by the 1901 Alabama Constitution and which he had sworn an oath to obey as part of his oath of office.
Specifically:
- Canon 1, he failed to uphold the integrity of the judiciary,
- Canon 2, he failed to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety by participating in proceedings where he had a conflict of interest,
- Canon 2A, he failed to respect and comply with the law,
- Canon 2B, failed to avoid conduct that brings the judicial office into disrepute,
- Canon 3, he failed to perform the duties of his office impartially,
- Canon 3A(6), he failed to abstain from public comment about a pending proceeding in his court.
Read the opinion for more details. None of that has anything to do with gay marriage. All of it is about Judge Moore engaging in conduct that he’d sworn an oath to not do.
The court has suspended him without pay for the remainder of his term. This means, effectively, forever, because he will not be eligible to run again after his term is over. And to that, I say: Good riddance.
– Badtux the “Goodbye to bad rubbish” Penguin