U.S.

Judges Take A Pass On Commandments

September 4, 2003 / 5:20 PM EDT / CBS/AP

The eight associate justices of the Alabama Supreme Court will not hear Roy Moore's appeal of his ouster as chief justice over his refusal to remove a Ten Commandments display, a court official said Monday.

The justices have not issued a formal order stepping down from the case, but they scheduled a 2 p.m. meeting to randomly draw the names of qualified judges and attorneys who could hear the appeal, Supreme Court Clerk Bob Esdale told The Associated Press.

The names will be submitted to Gov. Bob Riley, who is expected to make the final appointment of a replacement court.

Moore previously said in court papers he could accept his former colleagues hearing the case, except for acting Chief Justice Gorman Houston, who Moore said had made comments that indicated he may not be able to rule impartially.

The Alabama Court of the Judiciary voted Nov. 13 to remove Moore from office for refusing a federal judge's order to remove a Ten Commandments monument he had installed in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building.

The state Court of the Judiciary unanimously imposed the harshest penalty possible after a one-day trial in which Moore said his refusal was a moral and lawful acknowledgment of God. Prosecutors said Moore's defiance, left unchecked, would harm the judicial system.

Moore, a champion of religious conservatives, had been suspended since August but was allowed to collect his $170,000 annual salary. He was halfway through his six-year term.

Speaking immediately after the decision, a defiant Moore told supporters he had only acknowledged God as is done in other official procedures and documents.

"I have absolutely no regrets. I have done what I was sworn to do," he said, drawing applause.

A federal judge had ruled the monument was an unconstitutional promotion of religion by the government. A federal appeals court upheld the ruling, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Moore's appeal. The monument eventually was rolled to a storage room on instructions from the eight associate justices.