Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore in happier times when he thought he could force his religion on others
Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore is no stranger to violating his oath of office when it comes to his religious views. This time the line he’s drawn is same-sex marriage. He hates it. In an interview he tried to equate same-sex marriage with slavery to describe how wrong it is. This is why we need separation of church and state. Religious views shouldn’t trump civil rights or federal court decisions.
On Fox News Sunday, Alabama State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore went further than he has previously, stating that if the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of same-sex marriage and should a same-sex marriage case come before his court afterwards, he would not be bound by the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Justice Moore told Fox News host Chris Wallace that he could recuse himself from the case or even dissent. And he accused the Supreme Court of acting outside its authority if and when it rules that same-sex couples have the legal right to marry under the U.S. Constitution.
Moore told Wallace that “if the case comes before me and the Supreme Court has decided what marriage is, then that would control that case,” meaning only the people named in the case, the plaintiffs and the defendants, would be bound by the ruling. “But I would not be bound thereby,” he stated.
“I could recuse or dissent as a justice from Delaware did in the Dred Scott case in 1857,” Moore continued. “They ruled black people were property. Should a court today obey such a ruling that is completely contradictory to the Constitution?”
Roy Moore: ‘I Would Not Be Bound’ By A Supreme Court Ruling Supporting Same-Sex Marriage
If Moore follows through on his threat, and he will be losing his battle against same-sex marriage, then he will be violating his oath of office.
…solemnly swear (or affirm as the case may be) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Alabama, so long as I continue a citizen thereof; and that I will faithfully and honestly discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, to the best of my ability. So help me God.
Not to mention ticking off his god since he swore to his god in the oath.
Moore has been down this road before. He was removed from the job he has now back in 2003 for refusing to abide a federal court decision to remove a Ten Commandments monument he had placed in the lobby of the Supreme Court building.
In his interview he tried to compare himself to a US Supreme Court justice who had dissented in the Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) case that ruled African Americans could not be US citizens even if they were not slaves.
Really. Moore tried to compare his fight against same-sex marriage to the fight against 19th century human slavery.
WOW!
Of course he doesn’t mention that the justice, Benjamin Robbins Curtis, resigned from the court as result of the decision. Curtis didn’t defy the decision, he quit his job.
Maybe Moore should quit his job if he is so upset about same-sex marriage.
The real issue is that Moore believes that religion should trump the federal courts and the US Constitution supremacy clause.
“When federal courts start changing our Constitution by defining words that are not even there, like marriage, they’re going to do the same thing with family in the future. When a word’s not in the Constitution clearly, the powers of the Supreme Court do not allow them to re-define words and seize power,” Moore said. “The power is not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the states or reserved to the states respectively or to the people.”
“This power over marriage, which came from God under our organic law, is not to be redefined by the United States Supreme Court or any federal court,” he continued.
Alabama Chief Justice: SCOTUS Can’t Change God’s Law On Marriage
The US Constitution as well as the Alabama Constitution were created by a consensus of the people to be governed. They were not “given” to us by a god or gods or a religion.
If that was the case then our founding fathers would have put that in the documents explicitly but instead we got the 1st amendment that gives us a distinct separation of church and state.
I’m sure Roy Moore will have no problem getting work on the Christian victimization dinner circuit if he continues to defy the federal court.
