By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Republican Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court candidate Roy Moore and the Foundation for Moral Law he is President of filed an amicus curiae (“friend-of-the-court”) brief in the United States Supreme Court. Moore and the supporters of traditional marriage in California are asking the Supreme Court to overturn lower federal courts that struck down Proposition 8, the California marriage amendment. Proposition 8 which was passed by a vote of the people of California defined marriage as between one man and one woman. Proposition 8 was challenged in the federal courts by the militant homosexual lobby who claim that limiting marriage to a traditional heterosexual union is unconstitutional.
The former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy Moore said, “Throughout history, marriage has been recognized as the union of male and female, a contract between husband and wife, the ‘most solemn and sacred of all,’ according to the United States Supreme Court in 1819. When the people of California tried to reaffirm that definition of marriage in their own Constitution, a federal district court and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the will of the people. We at the Foundation for Moral Law are asking the United States Supreme Court to hear this case and reverse the unlawful decisions of the lower courts. By attempting to redefine marriage as the union of two persons of the same sex, the courts are trying to make a law which contradicts the Common Law, the Constitution of California, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) passed by Congress in 1996, opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court, the United States Constitution, and the ‘laws of nature and of nature’s God’ upon which our Country was founded.”
In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton (D) from Arkansas signed the Defense of Marriage Act which made gay marriage illegal. Buoyed by millions of dollars of militant homosexual campaign contributions President Barack Obama’s Administration has declared DOMA unconstitutional and has refused to use his U.S. Department of Justice to defend the suddenly controversial law.
Judge Roy Moore and the Foundation for Moral argued in their brief that the text of the Constitution itself should be the only standard for determining whether Proposition 8 is constitutional or not. Moore and the foundation further argued that marriage is an institution for human government, not merely an individual right. Moore also argued that the California court can not create rights that did not exist and that a “rational basis” for traditional marriage exists.
While gays and lesbians are only 2 to 4% of the American population there are over 500 gay and lesbian delegates to the Democratic Party National Convention meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Democrats have officially placed the establishment of gay marriage on their national platform.
Alabama Republican Party Chairman Bill Armistead said in a written statement, “Let me be clear, the Alabama Republican Party affirms its support of traditional marriage and stands in opposition to President Barack Obama’s order to the Department of Justice to ignore the ‘Defense of Marriage Act’ and the Democratic Party’s position in support of gay marriage. However the Alabama Republican Party encourages all individuals engaged in this discussion to enter into it respectfully. We do not condone hateful speech by anyone engaged in this debate.”
Chairman Armistead continued, “Democrat support of gay marriage became a national issue when President Obama came out in support of gay marriage. That was followed by the announcement by the Democratic Party that they were going to endorse same sex marriage in their platform. Since then numerous Alabama media outlets have attempted to get a reaction from Judge Kennedy and the Alabama Democratic Party, to no avail. With the removal of Harry Lyon as the Democratic nominee because of his opposition to the Democratic position in favor of gay marriage, it should be clear to every Alabamian just how liberal the Democratic Party has become.”
Former Chief Justice Moore’s Democratic opponent in November is retiring Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Robert Vance. Vance was selected by the Alabama Democratic Party after the Party removed Pelham Attorney Harry Lyon for harsh language he used on Facebook, including his strident denunciations of the national Democratic Party’s embracing of gay marriage.
