Alabama Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore traveled to Texas to speak at an anti-gay marriage rally Monday with state Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.Â
“Normally judges don’t speak in public but if I should hold back my opinions in such a time as this, I would consider myself guilty of treason toward my country,” Judge Roy Moore Monday afternoon in Austin, Texas told a few dozen supporters.
The 68-year old jurist told the rowdy crowd of mostly white, mostly older males that his journey is just like that of another Alabama man to the the Alamo many decades ago.
“He took a stand in the face of an enemy that was far more numerous, but he knew that he had to make a statement for the people of Texas. And that he would give his life.”
“I hope I don’t give my life, but I’m going to tell you this is a very serious matter,” Moore continued, to loud cheers of agreement. “There is today another threat, not only in Texas and Alabama, but across our country, where state and federal judges have overruled constitutional amendments passed by the people of those states, and people just sat by and watched it.”
“Nothing in the Constitution of the United States,” he claimed, falsely suggesting federal and state court judges are equal, “gives federal courts any authority over domestic policy of family and marriage, in the state of Texas the state of Alabama, or anywhere else.”
“No court has any authority to redefine what God proposed in Genesis. The definition of marriage, you want it by man? It doesn’t come by man, it comes by God.”
Ironically, having now ruled in the public square, he then called for Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan to recuse themselves “from sitting on this issue.” He added they will “void” any perception of impropriety if they do not, which of course is false as the day is long.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, fresh from suing the federal government to prevent same-sex couples from being able to take unpaid time off from work to care for a sick spouse or a new child, also addressed the thin crowd.
“Well, what a beautiful day it is to be with you here to defend marriage,” the newly-elected Republican said. He bragged that in 2003 he voted to pass the Texas Defense of Marriage Act.
Paxton also bragged that his first week as an Attorney General he defended the marriage ban at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
He also lamented he had to “deal with” a probate judge who granted a same-sex couple – one of whom has cancer – a marriage license.
Twitter was unimpressed:
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Roy Moore video via Lone Star Q
Ken Paxton video via Ken Paxton
Image, top, by Karina Kling via Twitter
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