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UPDATING: Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore Suspended Over Actions Opposing Same-Sex Marriage

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Commission Files Six Charges Against Anti-Gay Judge

Alabama Chief justice Roy Moore has been suspended and faces possible removal from office after a state commission Friday night charged him with six counts of ethics violations surrounding his actions against same-sex marriage. Moore in January ordered all probate judges in Alabama to not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, despite the Supreme Court having ruled same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage.

The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission has forwarded those charges to the Alabama Court of the Judiciary. That court will hear and rule on the charges.

Despite rulings by both a federal judge and later, the U.S. Supreme Court, “Moore instructed probate judges throughout Alabama to ignore those higher courts and to refuse to issue licenses to same-sex couples,” AL.com reports.

Moore and his attorney, the head of an anti-gay hate group, Liberty Counsel, last month held a press conference to explain his positions. He said, “transsexualism is a known mental illness,” and claimed there “is nothing in writing that you will find that I told anybody to disobey a federal court order. That’s not what I said.” 

Clearly, the JIC filed a differing opinion.

Friday night, Moore told AL.com, “The Judicial Inquiry Commission has chosen to listen to people like Ambrosia Starling, a professed transvestite and other gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals, as well as organizations that support their agenda.”

He also claimed the “Judicial Inquiry Commission has no authority over the administrative orders of the chief justice of Alabama or the legal injunctions of the Alabama Supreme Court prohibiting probate judges from issuing same-sex marriage licenses,” meaning he does not recognize the JIC’s authority to prosecute a case against him.

For now, Moore is suspended.

UPDATE I – 10:37 PM EDT:
The full document charging Moore is 293 pages, although most are footnotes and supporting case law. You can read it here.

Of note:
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UPDATE II: 10:47 PM EDT –
The charges are damning. There’s no other way to put it. Legal experts will weigh in but it seems impossible at first glance that he will beat these charges. 

Also, he might not care. Moore will run for governor and losing his job over this will solidify his base.

UPDATE III: 11:16 PM EDT –
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which filed the complaint against Judge Moore, weighs in:

More from SPLC President Richard Cohen:
“Chief Justice Roy Moore has disgraced his office for far too long. He’s such a religious zealot, such an egomaniac that he thinks he doesn’t have to follow federal court rulings he disagrees with. For the good of the state, he should be kicked out of office.”

As our ethics complaints lay out clearly, Moore has violated his oath of office and the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics multiple times.

He has urged state and local officials to violate a binding court order. He has repeatedly commented on pending cases. He has undermined the public’s confidence in the judiciary by denigrating the federal courts and complaining about what he has called “tyranny.”

And, he has improperly lent the prestige of his office to a group called the Foundation for Moral Law, an organization that he founded and that his wife now operates.

UPDATE IV: 11:39 PM EDT –
AL.com’s political reporter:

 

EARLIER:

Watch: Roy Moore and Lawyer Blame ‘Atheists, Homosexuals’ and ‘Admitted Transvestite’ for Legal Woes

Roy Moore Can’t Be Impeached And He Can’t Be Re-Elected, So Guess Why He’s Attacking Gays Again?

Watch: Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore Claims Supreme Court Same-Sex Marriage Ruling Not In Effect

 

This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates.

 


Image: Screenshot via AL.com

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‘He Is Not in Charge’: Trump Mocked After Asking What’s in His Own Executive Order

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President Donald Trump has signed more than 150 executive orders, often with cameras rolling and staff looking on. The ritual rarely varies: seated at the desk in the Oval Office, the President listens as someone—typically the White House Staff Secretary—reads a brief summary of the order. On occasion, Trump interjects with a question, prompting speculation that he may not be fully familiar with the contents. He is seldom seen fully reading the orders themselves, which can span anywhere from a few pages to nearly 70.

On Friday, President Trump signed several executive orders, but according to The Daily Beast, one particularly revealing moment suggested he may not have known what he was signing—describing it as “a telling moment” that implied the president hadn’t read the order.

“Are we doing something about the regulatory in here?” Trump asked a business person attending the event.

READ MORE: ‘There Is No Tariff’: Trump Denies Policy Shift After Calling for 50% EU Tariff

“Several business leaders standing around him were quick to chime in that his order did address the regulations while Interior Secretary Doug Burgum also responded, ‘You are, sir,'” The Daily Beast also reported.

At the end, Trump asked, “Is that it?” and one of the attendees replied, “That’s all we have for you now, sir.”

Then, rather than asking if there were any questions for him about the executive orders, Trump asked if anyone had any questions for the guests in the room, whom he called “brilliant.”

READ MORE: ‘This Is Extortion’: Former Harvard President Blasts Trump’s Act of ‘Madness’

Critics blasted the President.

Fred Wellman is a graduate of West Point and the Harvard Kennedy School, an Army veteran of 22 years who served four combat tours, and a political consultant.

“He is not in charge,” Wellman alleged.

MSNBC columnist Michael A. Cohen snarked, “It’s almost as if Trump has cognitive deficiencies, which from what I hear on CNN is a major scandal.”

“’Is that it?’ while signing orders he doesn’t understand, parroting talking points he didn’t write, and pretending it’s leadership,” wrote investment banker Evaristus Odinikaeze. “Peak performative confusion.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: Franklin Graham Scores Pentagon Christian Prayer Services Invitation

 

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‘There Is No Tariff’: Trump Denies Policy Shift After Calling for 50% EU Tariff

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Just hours after President Donald Trump called for a 50% tariff on products from the European Union starting June 1, he told reporters “There is no tariff,” and “I’m not looking for a deal.”

“The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at 7:43 AM. “Their powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans Companies, and more, have led to a Trade Deficit with the U.S. of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable.”

“Our discussions with them are going nowhere! Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025. There is no Tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

READ MORE: ‘This Is Extortion’: Former Harvard President Blasts Trump’s Act of ‘Madness’

While signing executive orders in the Oval Office on Friday, a reporter said to Trump, “You are deal maker, deal breaker—what are you hoping to achieve with a 50% tariff?”

“Well, I think this is—there is no tariff because what they’ll do is they’ll send their companies into the U.S. and build their plant,” the President responded. “You know, we have, I guess, over $12 trillion practically committed. You look at other presidents, haven’t had a trillion dollars for a year, two years, for three years.”

“We have numbers. Nobody’s ever seen numbers like we have. And if they build their plant here, then they have no tariff at all.”

READ MORE: ‘Cut, Rip, Gut, Kill, Cruel’: Top Republican Lashes Out Over Dems Using These Words

“Are you looking for a deal in nine days? Will you be able to do that, sir?” the reporter asked.

“I’m not looking for a deal. I mean, we’ve set the deal. It’s at 50%, but again, there is no tariff if they build their plant here.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Franklin Graham Scores Pentagon Christian Prayer Services Invitation

 

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‘This Is Extortion’: Former Harvard President Blasts Trump’s Act of ‘Madness’

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Former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers delivered sharp criticism of President Donald Trump and his administration for barring the nation’s oldest university from admitting foreign students—part of the President’s ongoing feud with several Ivy League institutions.

Harvard quickly sued the Trump administration. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against Trump’s efforts to revoke Harvard’s ability to admit foreign students, which comprise about one-quarter of the school’s total enrolled population.

“U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs’ order provides temporary relief to the thousands of international students who were faced with being forced to transfer under a policy that the Ivy League school called part of the administration’s broader effort to retaliate against it for refusing to ‘surrender its academic independence,'” Reuters reported.

READ MORE: White House Scrambles to Clean Up Trump’s Walmart ‘Rage Tweeting’ Amid Upcoming ‘Standoff’

Summers, who not only helmed the nearly-four-century-old Cambridge, Massachusetts, institution, but also served as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, took to social media to blast Trump and praise the school for fighting back.

“Harvard University is doing just the right thing,” Summers wrote. “This is extortion. It’s a vendetta using all powers of the government because of a political argument with Harvard. It is violating the First Amendment. It is also violating all the laws we have regarding administrative procedures.”

“The consequences are real,” he continued, “whether it’s students who are dissidents from tyrannies who are going to be sent home and possibly be imprisoned, whether it’s labs that are fighting cancer or diabetes, that are going to lose key people, whether it’s 7,000 people, some small fraction of whom are going to go on to be Prime Ministers of countries who’ve now been turned into enemies of the United States, whether it is the way in which America [is] seen when it expels people whose dream it was to come to Harvard to study, this is madness.”

And he criticized the move as a “gift” to enemy nations.

READ MORE: ‘Shameless Liar and Insane Conspiracy Theorist’: RFK Jr. Slammed by Democratic Senator

“I cannot imagine a greater strategic gift that we could be giving to China and Russia, the enemies of freedom around the world,” Summers wrote. “If this lawsuit is allowed to stand, it is going to be incredibly damaging to Harvard. But that is the least of it. It is much more profound in how damaging this will be to the standing, the role and the position of the U.S. We used to be a beacon to the world. We’re now becoming a negative example. I imagine there must be great joy in Beijing and Moscow, seeing us implode with these kinds of policies.”

Current Harvard University President Alan Garber in a letter wrote: “For those international students and scholars affected by yesterday’s action, know that you are vital members of our community. You are our classmates and friends, our colleagues and mentors, our partners in the work of this great institution. Thanks to you, we know more and understand more, and our country and our world are more enlightened and more resilient. We will support you as we do our utmost to ensure that Harvard remains open to the world.”

Others weighed in as well.

“America cannot long remain free, nor first among nations, if it becomes the kind of place where universities are dismantled because they don’t align politically with the current head of the government,” wrote former Biden Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

“When Trump and [DHS Secretary Kristi] Noem say that they are cutting off visas for Harvard students because of ‘DEI’ concerns, they mean that Harvard admits non white males and has non white male faculty. DEI is just now code for white male supremacy,” declared U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT).

“The letter Noem sent to Harvard cites no law violated, no regulation broken, no policy ignored,” noted attorney and immigration expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, “just a threat to punish Harvard for their refusal to hand over FIVE YEARS of video of every student protest at the university, among other things. THAT is weaponization of government.”

READ MORE: ‘Cut, Rip, Gut, Kill, Cruel’: Top Republican Lashes Out Over Dems Using These Words

 

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