MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy stood trial for ethics charges on Wednesday in Montgomery, calling into question the legality of his actions following the legalization of same-sex marriage. Moore’s opponents have insisted he lacks a commitment to the rule of law, while the Justice’s attorneys have asked the court to dismiss the charges against him.
Moore has been suspended pending the result of the trial since May 6.
The case, heard before Alabama’s Court of the Judiciary, could result in Moore’s removal from office. This would be the second time that Moore had to step down from the state’s highest court.
Moore was previously removed from the bench in 2003 when he refused to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the Alabama Judicial Building. He was re-elected Chief Justice in 2013.
In order to be removed, the decision of the court must be unanimous. Moore would also have the opportunity to appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court, should the outcome be rendered against him.
Charges against Moore stem from his defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage in 2015. An administrative order issued by Moore told state probate judges that the state supreme court’s ruling prohibiting the marriage of same-sex couples was still in place, regardless of what SCOTUS had to say about the issue.
During the course of the trial’s proceedings, Moore’s attorneys argued that there was no evidence showing “bad faith or motive” from their client, while the prosecutors for the JIC insisted Moore had not “learned his lesson” from his previous dismissal.
Moore, who chose to take the stand, received a standing ovation from the gallery upon entering into the courtroom.
The Justice claimed that he “would never tell them [probate judges] what to do,” and that he was not ordering probate judges how to rule, rather simply that they must rule.
“This was a matter that was clearly in law, had nothing to do with what I felt about same-sex marriage or anything like that,” Moore said on the stand.
Prosecutors, however, did not buy the judge’s explanation. In closing arguments, the prosecution argued that Moore knew exactly what he was doing, and cited the Justice’s letter to Gov. Bentley following the SCOTUS marriage ruling where Moore said he was willing “to stand with you [Bentley] against tyranny.”
The trial lasted less than a full day, and Moore was the only witness called. Closing statements finished around 2:30 p.m.
No verdict will be released today, but a decision is expected within 10 days.
With Moore’s trial for ethics charges completed, the heads of each of the three branches of Alabama’s state government have now undergone serious legal proceedings within the past six months.
In June, Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn) was convicted of 12 of 23 charges by a Lee County Jury in Opelika, which determined that he used his public office for personal gain. The judge sentenced him to a total of four years in prison, eight years on probation, and ordered to pay a $210,000 fine on 12 felony ethics violations.
Throughout the summer and fall, Gov. Robert Bentley has been under threat of impeachment from a scandal regarding his former political advisor Rebeckah Caldwell-Mason. The Articles of Impeachment – currently in the House Judiciary Committee – accuse Bentley of willful neglect of duty, corruption in office, incompetency, and “offenses of moral terpitude”. The governor has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
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