Church-State Separation Ignored
Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, March 2, 2002
101 Elliot Avenue W, Seattle, WA 98119
Fax: 206-448-8184
Email: editpage@seattle-pi.com
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Board
With his injudicious diatribe on the "inherent evil" of
homosexuality, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has earned the
label of judicial activist, a tag that’s usually and unfairly applied to
more liberal brethren.
Moore’s career as a jurist should be derailed, lest he ever be considered
for a position in the federal judicial system where his poisonous beliefs
could impact us all.
Many members of the judiciary have deeply held views on controversial
subjects, such as abortion and capital punishment, but they wisely refrain
from airing those views. Even more important, they succeed in setting their
personal views aside when considering cases because their job is to apply the
law of the land to the specific situation at issue.
Not Moore, and not for the first time. His religion guides him always as a
judge. Despite federal and state separation of church and state, he has
repeatedly proclaimed that the laws of God are "higher laws" than
the laws of the United States.
As a county court judge, Moore routinely opened official proceedings with
prayers but would not allow people of a different faith to offer their own. As
the court’s top (elected) jurist, he has proclaimed in a case that
"homosexual conduct is, and has been, considered abhorrent, immoral,
detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature, and
of nature’s God upon which this Nation and our laws are predicated."
Moore’s attempt to buttress his discriminatory beliefs with English and
American common law fail miserably. The law matures as people evolve; witness
the right of children of all colors to equal education as decided in Brown v.
Board of Education.
A remedy is at hand. A complaint asking that Moore be removed from office
has been filed with the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission by state Rep.
Alvin Holmes, who rightly says, "The statutes of Alabama, the
constitution of Alabama and the Constitution of the United States do not
designate blacks, Hispanics, gays, Jews, lesbians, Asians, Muslims or others
as evil.
"It’s almost inconceivable the chief justice of the state would take
a position like that."
Moore should be rendered an ex-judge.
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