By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Wednesday, September 28, 2016, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore (R) will be fighting for his career in yet another trial before the Court of the Judiciary.
The charges against the Chief Justice were brought by the Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC). The JIC is being widely criticized for their actions in attempting to remove the elected Chief Justice.
The Chief Justice is defended by Liberty Counsel. The founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, Matt Staver, said, ”The current situation allows the JIC too much power and the ability to punish judges without due process. Chief Justice Roy Moore should have never been suspended from his bench from these baseless charges. The JIC has become an arm of the Southern Poverty Law Center and other politically-motivated groups. The JIC is not supposed to be politically biased but it has become so. The JIC needs to be reigned in.”
The Alabama Republican Executive Committee has called for reforms in how the JIC is chosen and operates. The Alabama GOP passed two resolutions calling for the nine members of the JIC to be elected. The ALGOP Executive Committee also passed a resolution calling for overturning the rule that a judge is suspended while facing JIC charges.
Chief Justice Moore has been suspended with pay for months while this process has droned on.
The defense is arguing that the Chief Justice did nothing wrong and this is simply a political prosecution by liberal attorneys who are angry at Moore for his support of traditional marriage and Christian principles. Liberty Counsel has called the charges against Moore, “baseless.”
The JIC charges stem from a complaint brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The SPLC complaint alleges that Moore ordered state probate judges to violate a binding federal court order; that he has repeatedly commented on pending cases; has undermined the public’s confidence in the integrity of the judiciary by denigrating the federal courts and threatening to defy them; and has improperly lent the prestige of his office to the Foundation for Moral Law, a private organization that his wife runs and that he founded.
The JIC has hired John Carroll to be their prosecutor.
The pro-Moore group Sanctity of Marriage wrote: “Chief Justice Roy Moore, the rule of law, and the future of the Alabama Judiciary go on trial September 28th at 9:00. Will the Chief Justice be penalized over a legal administrative order because liberals disagree with his views? Or, will he be fully acquitted and reinstated for doing his job?”
