Here's a late-breaking tidbit of news. Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has been suspended from the bench (with pay, unfortunately), due to his stance on same-sex marriage.
This is the second time Moore has been removed for defiant disobedience of the law and U.S. Constitution.
It's always a bad idea for an officer of the court to disobey the law of the land, don't you think?
On Friday, the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission forwarded charges to the commission, accusing the chief justice of violating judicial ethics in his opposition to same-sex marriage.
Despite a ruling by a federal judge in Mobile making same-sex marriage legal in Alabama last year, and in the face of a United States Supreme Court ruling last year making its legality the law of the land, Moore instructed probate judges throughout Alabama to ignore those higher courts and to refuse to issue licenses to same-sex couples.
Moore's actions led the Southern Poverty Law Center to file complaints with the commission, which acts much in the same way as a grand jury. When it receives a complaint, the commission investigates and decides whether to forward charges to the Alabama Court of the Judiciary.
The process remains secret unless charges are made, as happened Friday evening. Unless Moore reaches a settlement, he will be tried before that court.
On Friday evening, SPLC President Richard Cohen said that Moore has disgraced his office and should be removed.
"He is such an egomaniac and such a religious zealot that he thinks he can ignore court orders with impunity," Cohen said. "For the sake of our state, he should be kicked out of office."
Moore, of course, is defiant.
Reached by phone Friday evening, Moore said he was ready to fight what he called the LGBT agenda.
"The Judicial Inquiry Commission has no authority over the administrative orders of the chief justice of Alabama or the legal injunctions of the Alabama Supreme Court prohibiting probate judges from issuing same-sex marriage licenses," Moore said. "The Judicial Inquiry Commission has chosen to listen to people like Ambrosia Starling, a professed transvestite and other gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals, as well as organizations that support their agenda."
More on Moore's decision to disobey the law here, here, and here.
