Appellate judges seem skeptical of arguments for Ten Commandments. (People & Events).Americans United Legal Director Ayesha N. Khan told a federal appeals court June 4 that 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 has no constitutional authority to display 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. at the Judicial Building in Montgomery. The 40-minute oral argument before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was the latest development in a lawsuit Americans United brought against Moore last year in an effort to force him to remove the religious sculpture from the courthouse. Moore's 5,280-pound granite display clearly violates the Constitution and legal precedent and must be removed, Khan advised the three-judge panel. Moore's attorney, Herb Titus Herbert W. Titus (born October 17, 1937 in Baker, Oregon, United States) is a former candidate for Vice-President of the United States and an attorney. His 1996 run for Vice President was on the Constitution Party ticket. , a former dean at TV preacher Pat Robertson's law school, argued that Moore has the right to adorn the court building as he sees fit. Newspapers in the area reported that the federal appellate judges seemed skeptical of Titus' assertion. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Montgomery Advertiser, Judge Ed Carnes said to Titus, "I'm trying to understand your argument. Its implications are staggering. If we buy this argument, the chief justice can decorate the courthouse in any religious manner he pleases and it won't violate the Constitution?" Continued Carnes, "He could decorate the Supreme Court with a mural depicting the life, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ? In big, block letters behind his bench, for all the lawyers and everyone else to see, he could spell out 'What would Jesus do?' That doesn't violate the Constitution?" Titus argued those actions would not violate the Constitution, as they would not amount to a law "respecting an establishment of religion." (Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor appointed Titus and two other lawyers as assistant attorneys general to represent Moore and the state in the pending litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. .) The Atlanta Journal & Constitution reported that Judge J.L. Edmondson "appeared more sympathetic" to Titus' argument, but even he warned the attorney that he faced "very tough" hurdles. "I'm optimistic," said AU's Khan after the argument. "The attorneys for Moore made clear that he seeks to establish Christianity as the official religion of this country. That's a dangerous and divisive agenda and it must be stopped." Khan added that if the court applies existing precedent, Americans United, which brought the Glassroth v. Moore Glassroth v. Moore, CV-01-T-1268-N, 229 F. Supp. 2d 1290 (M.D. Ala. 2002), and its companion case Maddox and Howard v. Moore, CV-01-T-1269-N, concern then-Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy S. legal challenge along with the American Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution. of Alabama and the Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an internationally known nonprofit organization that files Class Action lawsuits to fight discrimination and unequal treatment; it also tracks hate groups and runs a program to educate Americans about racism, anti-Semitism, and other forms of , will win easily. |
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