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Thread ID: 19172 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2005-07-16
2005-07-16 13:22 | User Profile
Moore endorsed for court
Staff and wire reports
MOORE
A conservative group is encouraging President Bush to nominate former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, one author is urging the ousted justice to run for governor of Alabama.
"This is the kind of man we need in Alabama," William D. Bevis, author of "The Ten Commandments Judge: The Story of Roy Moore Jr.," said in a recent announcement supporting Moore for governor.
"He has given all of us hope that there are still men who stand on Christian principle and are not governed by a thirst for money, nor is he afraid of the powerful," Bevis said.
The chairman of the Conservative Caucus, Howard Phillips, said at a Washington news conference Wednesday that Moore would strictly interpret the law according to the U.S. Constitution and is the kind of person Bush has said he wants to appoint to the Supreme Court.
Montgomery resident Frank Hardy said Moore would make for "an excellent Supreme Court judge."
"America was founded on a Christian concept," he said. "We need somebody with Christian guts and a knowledge of the Constitution as it should be interpreted and not the way it is being interpreted by activist judges. The man has credibility, leadership and he does not play."
Moore was removed as Alabama's chief justice in 2003 by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary after he refused a federal judge's order to move a Ten Commandments monument from the lobby of the Alabama Judicial Building.
Bush currently is considering candidates for the Supreme Court seat being vacated by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
The man who prosecuted Moore before the Court of the Judiciary, former Attorney General Bill Pryor, also has been mentioned as a possible candidate for O'Connor's seat on the Supreme Court. U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., has encouraged the White House to consider Pryor.
At Wednesday's news conference, Conservative Caucus members defended Moore's refusal to remove the Ten Commandments monument, saying he was reacting to what they called an unconstitutional court order.
Moore declined to comment on the caucus's recommendation.
"Judge Roy Moore is precisely the kind of jurist that President Bush says he wants on the high court," said the Rev. Rob Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council and a member of the Conservative Caucus. "Judge Moore will never surrender his principles in favor of politics, prestige or personal gain."
Schenck was one of the leaders of several weeks of protests in Montgomery when the 5,300-pound granite monument was moved from the lobby of the Judicial Building.
Caucus members said Moore's appointment could counteract what they say is an overreaching and unchecked federal judiciary that has issued decisions on social issues contrary to public opinion on topics such as abortion.
"Above all, the appointment of Roy Moore would provide a genuine opportunity for the first debate before the whole American people over the critical question of judicial supremacy," said former Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes, who also participated in the 2003 protests over removal of the commandments monument.
A Moore nomination likely would ignite a firestorm of debate in the U.S. Senate, which must confirm the next justice.
Bryan Fair, a constitutional law professor at the University of Alabama, said Bush likely would nominate a less controversial figure.
Fair said Moore's views are "far out of the mainstream, and it's been recommended to Bush that he find someone with a mainstream view."
Phillips said at Wednesday's news conference that he was not trying to stir up political support for Moore, who is considering a campaign for governor of Alabama.
He said about 122,000 signatures have been collected so far on a petition asking Bush to nominate Moore to the Supreme Court.
[COLOR=DarkRed][QUOTE]Richard Cohen of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which filed the lawsuit that led to the court order to remove the Ten Commandments monument, said he assumed Moore's name was suggested for the high court "in jest."
"He was a disgrace to the bench, and he was removed for that reason," Cohen said. "His stance was antithetical to the rule of law." [/QUOTE] [/COLOR]
Despite criticism of Moore, many, such as Bevis and Phillips, continue to support him.
"If he runs for Alabama governor, not only will he be as Daniel in the lions' den, he will be as David alone against the dangerous giant Goliaths of the Alabama political machines. And like David he will be victorious," Bevis said.
-- Staff writer Jannell McGrew contributed to this report.
[url]http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/NEWSV5/storyV5ONMOORE15.htm[/url]