Moore Appeals to Supreme Court
By Stuart Shepard

            Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on whether his controversy-causing Ten Commandments monument, ruled unconstitutional by a lower court judge, is indeed a violation of the so-called separation of church and state.
            Moore has filed a formal petition with the Court – his last hope of being affirmed in his decision to place a 2-1/2-ton monument to God's law in the rotunda of the Alabama judicial center. The monument was removed in August, after Moore's argument that he is duty-bound to acknowledge God under the Alabama Constitution was rejected by a U.S. District Court judge and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
            Moore said the Supreme Court should agree to hear his appeal because, to date, it has "failed to discharge its duty to provide a uniform rule of law governing Establishment Clause cases."

"It is time for the Court to address the First Amendment," he said, "and the clear intent of the First Amendment."

            Moore explained that lower courts have created seemingly conflicting laws when they have offered varying rulings that ignore the original intent of the protections for religion. America's founders never sought to outlaw acknowledgement of God -- only to prohibit Congress from establishing a national religion.

            That many courts seem unable to understand that simple truth has led to confusion about what's legal and what isn't when it comes to acknowledging God in the public square, said Mat Staver, president and chief counsel of the religious-liberties legal society Liberty Counsel.

            "In Judge Moore's case, a judge ruled the Ten Commandments unconstitutional. Whereas in several of our cases, the federal courts have ruled that the Ten Commandments (are) constitutional," Staver said. "It's the same Ten Commandments. It's the same Constitution. Why the difference?"
            Staver added that it's time to get back to the original understanding of the founding documents. Moore agreed, saying there could be grave consequences for the nation if the Supreme Court agrees to hear his appeal but rules the wrong way. "Then," he said, "God's judgment will come upon us."

 

Stuart Shepard is a correspondent for Focus on the Family. The above article is reprinted from Focus On the Family‘s Family News in Focus News Letter of Oct. 1, 2003. To learn more about the underlying issue of Moore's battle -- judicial tyranny -- visit the new Focus on the Family web site (www.stopjudicialtyranny.com) devoted to the topic, which includes a list of rallies being held nationwide in support of public displays of the Ten Commandments.