The "Ten Commandments" Judge.(Roy Moore, chief justice, Alabama Supreme Court)(Brief Article)

Judge Roy Moore, chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and firm believer in the Ten Commandments, rouses the ire of liberals with a monumental statement.

During his campaign for Alabama's highest judicial office last year, Chief Justice Roy Moore pledged to restore the moral foundation of law by, among other things, having God's influence on the law acknowledged in a public place. He has for many years, despite bitter opposition from prominent liberal and humanist enemies, been doing so in his private offices.

In the mid-1990s, as a circuit court judge in Etowah County, he began posting a plaque of the Ten Commandments. His refusal to back down in the face of ACLU-instigated legal intimidation (he won) and trumped up claims of ethical misbehavior (he was cleared) earned him the appellation "Ten Commandments Judge" and paved the way for his elevation to chief justice last November. After moving into his new offices in January, he posted the plaque in the waiting room. And on August 1st he began fulfilling his "going public" campaign pledge by unveiling an impressive new monument in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery, which houses the Supreme Court, two other appeals courts, and administrative offices.

The 5,280-pound granite sculpture measures three feet square at its base and stands slightly over four feet high. The King James Bible version of the Ten Commandments is carved on the likeness of two stone tablets, supplemented by 14 quotations on the base from the Founding Fathers and other sources, including a verse from the national anthem, an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence, and the phrase "so help me God" from the oath of office taken by many federal officials. The monument was financed with private donations from Justice Moore, sculptor Richard Hahnemann, and others. No tax dollars, campaign funds, or money from other organized sources were involved.

Republican state Senator Albert Lipscomb, who led an unsuccessful attempt earlier in the year to have the Ten Commandments displayed in the legislature, said of the monument: "I'm thankful it's here. I believe it's in an appropriate place. I believe you ought to teach history the way it happened." And Democratic Governor Don Siegelman issued a statement asserting, "I certainly support the display of the Ten Commandments.... I think we ought to display them in a classroom as well."

During his remarks, Justice Moore asserted that "to restore morality we must first recognize the source from which all morality springs." He closed by expressing hope that the day would "mark the beginning of the restoration of the moral foundation of law to our people and a return to the knowledge of God in our land." (For the full text of his remarks, see page 36.)

Moore's perennial critics predictably ...