'Commandments judge' pushes court-stripping bill.Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore For the baseball player, see . Roy Moore is a controversial American jurist and politician noted for his refusal, as the elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the courthouse despite orders from a federal court is seeking congressional help to overturn federal court decisions that ban government-sponsored display of the Ten Commandments Ten Commandments or Decalogue [Gr.,=ten words], in the Bible, the summary of divine law given by God to Moses on Mt. Sinai. They have a paramount place in the ethical system in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. and other official acknowledgments of religion. On his website (www.morallaw.org), Moore brags that he has drafted the "MOST IMPORTANT legislation of our lifetime." Several members of Congress are now advocating passage of the bill. The "Constitution Restoration Act," H.R. 3799 in the House and S. 2082 in the Senate, would amend U.S. law to strip the U.S. Supreme Court's power to hear cases involving government "acknowledgement of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government." The measure, which would apply to both past and future cases, also forbids lower federal courts from hearing such disputes. In the short run, the bill would nullify nul·li·fy tr.v. nul·li·fied, nul·li·fy·ing, nul·li·fies 1. To make null; invalidate. 2. To counteract the force or effectiveness of. a decision of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that ordered Moore to remove his Commandments monument from the rotunda rotunda In Classical and Neoclassical architecture, a building or room that is circular in plan and covered with a dome. The Pantheon is a Classical Roman rotunda. The Villa Rotonda at Vicenza, designed by Andrea Palladio, is an Italian Renaissance example. of Alabama's Judicial Building. It would also make it impossible for future challenges to be brought. The Senate version was introduced by Sens. Richard Shelby Richard Craig Shelby (born May 6 1934), sometimes known as Dick Shelby, is an American politician. He currently is the senior U.S. Senator from Alabama. Originally elected to the Senate as a Democrat, Shelby switched to the Republican Party in 1994 when it gained the (R-Ala.), Zell Miller (D-Ga.), Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), Lindsey Graham (R-S R-S Reed-Solomon R-S Reset-Set R-S Relative Severity .C.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Wayne Allard (R-Colo.). The House version was introduced by Reps. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.). Miller took to the Senate floor Feb. 12 to announce his support of the Moore bill. Miller, besides lambasting pop culture, said he stood "shoulder to shoulder" with his colleagues and Moore in bemoaning "the terribly wrong direction our modern judiciary has taken us in." Specifically, Miller complained that the courts have erroneously suggested that the First Amendment calls for the separation of church and state
As Church & State went to print, Moore's bill was pending in the judiciary committees of both chambers. There were also at least three other bills, one in the Senate, two in the House, that seek to limit the authority of federal courts to decide cases involving religion and government. |
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