Roy Moore, the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, was suspended from office without pay by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary for, well, for refusing to follow the law of the land and for ordering lower court judges in Alabama to violate and/or ignore the law. The whole thing has to do with the Supreme Court's ruling last year regarding same-sex marriage; Moore opposes same-sex marriage, and he ordered lower court judges in Alabama, whose duties include issuing marriage licenses, not to follow the Supreme Court ruling and issue the licenses. The Atlantic reports: Roy Moore's "Suspension from Office."
Judge Moore is a crusader and a true believer: in 2003 he was ousted from the Chief Justice office for refusing to follow a federal court's ruling to remove a giant rock with the Ten Commandments on it from the state's supreme court building.
There's different ways to look at this. One is that judges have to follow higher court rulings or apply statutes all the time that they disagree with or which they see cause unjust even morally repugnant results. That is known going in as part of the job, I would guess. The legal system can't tolerate renegade judges, because it would devolve into a system of men rather than laws. Frankly, there's already enough problems like this. Actions like Judge Moore's just encourage judges to think they are entitled to have an agenda, which leads some off the reservation, so to speak.
Another way is to respect even admire Judge Moore's willingness to stand up for what he believes in, and to pay a price for doing so.
A third way is to recognize that Judge Moore will likely use this second ousting from office as a springboard to once again run for elected office. Following his removal as Alabama Chief Justice in 2003 Judge Moore ran twice unsuccessfully for Governor of Alabama. Perhaps he figures the third time's the charm.
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