[1]MONTGOMERY, Ala. (BP)–Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore filed a notice of appeal Dec. 10 with the Alabama Supreme Court he hopes will lead to his reinstatement.
Moore was removed from office Nov. 13 by the state Court of the Judiciary, which said Moore violated the state’s code of judicial ethics by not obeying a federal judge’s order to remove a 5,300-pound Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the State Judicial Building.
“I think it would have been a violation of my oath of office to obey an unlawful order,” Moore said after filing the appeal, according to The Birmingham News. “To do what I’m sworn to do cost me my job. It’s that simple.”
Moore’s lawyers also asked the state Supreme Court’s acting chief justice, Gorman Houston, not to participate in the case, saying his actions have shown him to be biased against Moore, The Birmingham News reported. The day after Moore was removed from office, Houston fired several court employees Moore had hired, the newspaper reported.
Moore has until Jan. 8 to file briefs supporting his appeal.
Moore told Baptist Press in an early December interview during a visit to Nashville, Tenn., that the media “misses the issue entirely” as to what the controversy has been about.
[2]“It’s about whether or not we can or must acknowledge God as the sovereign source of our law and justice system,” he said. “And I think that the media, not having understanding of these things, not having an understanding of history, not having an understanding of law, not having an understanding of the Scriptures, fail to see the intimate connection.
“But they’re not the only ones, because there are millions and millions of people who don’t understand the connection between God and law, and between the history of this country and God, and why it’s relevant.”
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With reporting by Art Toalston.