Ousted "Ten Commandments judge" wins primary vote

(AP) MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Roy Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who was ousted because he refused to move a granite monument of the Ten Commandments from a courthouse, is a step closer to getting his old job back.

Moore received a little more that 50 percent of the vote Tuesday to win the Republican nomination for his former judgeship. He is heavily favored to win the November general election over his Democratic rival.

It has been an improbable comeback for Moore, who in 2003 was removed from the chief justice's office for defying a federal judge's order to move the 5,200 pound Ten Commandments display from the state judicial building in Montgomery.

According to the Washington Post, a state panel expelled after he refused to comply with the federal order.

The Post reports that Moore argued - and continues to maintain - that he had a right to acknowledge God, and that following the order would have been a violation of his oath to the Constitution.