Alabama Court Hearing Ends in Case That Could Lead to Removal of Judge Roy Moore

Anti-Gay State Supreme Court Chief Justice Could Once Again Be Kicked Off High Court

The Alabama Court of the Judiciary has just ended its hearing in a case against Chief Justice Roy Moore, which could end the state Supreme Court Chief Justice’s tenure overseeing the high court for good. Moore is accused of directing all state probate judges to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the wake of both a federal judge’s ruling in favor of marriage equality, and the Supreme Court’s historic 2015 ruling in Obergefell.

The court spent about one hour hearing from an attorney for Moore – Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver, best known for representing Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis – and from an attorney for the state’s Judicial Inquiry Commission, John Carroll.

Despite a highly-publicized order issued by Moore in January of this year falsely claiming to the state’s probate judges that the Obergefell ruling did not apply to Alabama, but only to states in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, and instructing them that Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage was still in effect, Moore’s attorney today claimed there is no evidence he obstructed the marriages of same-sex couples, and called for the case to be dismissed.

Carroll, a former federal magistrate, told the court that Staver’s line of defense “defies common sense.”

The Judicial Inquiry Commission is calling for Moore’s removal. 

“Until further decision by the Alabama Supreme Court, the existing orders of the Alabama Supreme Court that Alabama probate judges have a ministerial duty not to issue any marriage license contrary to the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment or the Alabama Marriage Protection Act remain in full force and effect,” Moore had stated in his January order.

As a result of Moore’s order, some state probate judges closed their offices while attempting to determine what course of action to take, some announced they would not issue marriage licenses to any coules regardless of gender, and a few very publicly and openly defied Moore.

“Moore has said he was simply trying to clarify that a previous state ban on issuing marriage licenses to gay couples remained in effect because his fellow justices had not moved to rescind it,” the AP reports.

Moore was suspended with pay in May. Last week he lost his bid to have a federal court rule his civil rights were being violated by suspending him while the state court worked on his case, despite having infringed on the rights of same-sex couples.

The court concluded its hearing Monday around 3:45 PM EDT. Indications appear that the court will allow the case to go to trial next month, according to AL.com’s John Archibald:

The court will rule on requests for summary judgment soon:

Scenes from outside the court after the hearing concluded:

 

Image by Michael Oder via Twitter