Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003
Alabama Justice Won't Remove Commandments
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Chief Justice Roy Moore said Thursday he will not remove a Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Judicial Building as a federal court has ordered, but will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop any removal.
"I have no intention of removing the monument ...," he said. "This I cannot and will not do." Moore's decision came six days before the Aug. 20 deadline for the 5,300-pound monument to be removed from the judicial building rotunda, where it is in clear sight of visitors coming in the main entrance.
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson of Montgomery, who ruled the monument violates the constitution's ban on government promotion of religion, had said fines of about $5,000 a day would have been imposed against the state if the monument were not removed.
Moore accused Thompson of a "callous disregard for the people of Alabama" and their tax dollars.
2003-08-14 18:51:52 GMT
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Quis custodiet istos custodes? (Who will watch the watchers?)
-- Juvenal's Satires, circa 110 AD