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Pryor Calls for Removal of Moore Says Expulsion Needed to Protect The Public, Birmingham News (November 11, 2003)
Copyright 2003 The Birmingham News, All Rights Reserved
Birmingham News (Alabama)
November 11, 2003 Tuesday
HEADLINE: Pryor Calls for Removal of Moore Says Expulsion
Needed to Protect The Public
BYLINE: STAN BAILEY News staff writer
MONTGOMERY - Attorney General Bill Pryor called Monday for suspended
Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore to be removed from office for what he called
flagrant ethics violations.
Moore placed himself above the law when he defied a federal court order to
remove his Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building
rotunda and his removal is necessary to protect the public, Pryor wrote in legal
documents filed in preparation for Moore's trial Wednesday before the Court of
the Judiciary. "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.
"While the head of Alabama's judicial system, Chief Justice Moore flagrantly
disobeyed the law, incited the public to support his misconduct and undermined
the integrity, independence, and impartiality of the judiciary," Pryor stated.
Moore's attorney disagreed. "The exact opposite is true," said Terry Butts, a
former state Supreme Court justice. "The chief justice, by following his oath,
upheld the integrity of the judiciary, because as chief justice he has a
fundamental duty to restore the moral foundation of law and to speak on it."
A recent poll by the Alabama Education Association showed that 67 percent of
Alabamians think Moore shouldn't be removed from office, which "bolsters our
argument that the vast majority of the people out there thinks that he has upheld
the integrity of the court system," Butts said.
In that same poll, however, 58 percent of Alabamians said Moore should have
obeyed the court order and removed the monument.
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Pryor is prosecuting Moore on behalf of the state Judicial Inquiry Commission,
which accused Moore of violating six state judicial ethics rules. Under the state
constitution, he is suspended with pay while the charges are pending. If the court
finds that Moore has violated the ethics rules, it can remove him from office,
continue his suspension with or without pay or impose other sanctions.
At a news conference Monday, Moore said he is apprehensive about his
upcoming trial but "not afraid of the truth."
"My apprehension is that the truth is not going to come out," he said. He
wouldn't say what he might do if he is removed from office. He did criticize an
earlier decision to bar television cameras from the courtroom.
"The Court of the Judiciary should be afraid of the public" and of adverse public
opinion for banning cameras from the courtroom, Moore said. "It's supposed to be
a public trial."
The Supreme Court courtroom and another room equipped with electronic
monitors have a combined seating capacity of about 290. All of those seats already
have been reserved for the trial. Moore said he would have been willing to rent an
auditorium and wanted cameras covering the trial so the public could see it.
Pryor said Moore's six ethics violations are that he failed to respect and comply
with the law; to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary; to observe
high standards of conduct; to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety;
to conduct himself in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity
and impartiality of the judiciary, and to avoid conduct prejudicial to the
administration of justice.
Butts said Moore is innocent of all six of the charges.
Pryor said Moore not only defied the federal order but also "sought to incite
the public to support his lawless behavior."
Pryor cited a Moore decision while a circuit judge in Gadsden to find a man in
contempt of court for failing to obey one of Moore's orders. The Court of Civil
Appeals later ruled that Moore lacked authority to decide the case but that he had
correctly held the man in contempt of court because he had failed to obey the
order.
Butts, in his pre-trial brief, noted that Pryor supported Moore's placement of
the Ten Commandments monument in the judicial building rotunda. He said Pryor
appears to be "a man of courage and a man who acts on principle," but he argued
that Pryor's actions now are tantamount to saying Moore's oath of office was taken
to a federal judge rather than to the state constitution.
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LOAD- DATE: November 17, 2003
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