A Note on the Moore Cases and Judicial Administration

Abstract

In November 2000, Roy Moore was elected chief justice of the Alabama Supreme CourtHe had pledged to install a monument to the Ten Commandments in the state judicial building if elected. Eight months after his inauguration, Moore followed up on his campaign promise, placing a custom-built granite monument to the Ten Commandments in the state judicial building's rotunda. This act sparked a lengthy legal and political battle, drawing national attention and involving state and federal courts of all levels. While the debates over the monument focused most prominently on the First Amendment aspect of this controversy, an equally interesting and rich legal debate was underlying this struggle. Under what circumstances can a justice of a state supreme court be removed, and on what grounds can members of that same judi ciary exercise authority to sanction and remove any such justice? The Alabama State Constitution makes the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court the administrative head of the Alabama judicial system. Thus, once installed, Moore became not only the presiding justice of the state supreme court but also filled an administrative capacity, responsible for the maintenance and support of the buildings of the state judicial system, among other things. Moore chose to place a large granite monument to the Ten Commandments in the Alabama Judicial Building and had this monument installed overnight on July 31, 2001. As later recounted in court proceedings, "The installation was videotaped, with Chief Justice Moore's permission, by Coral Ridge Ministries (an evangelical Christian media organization). Copies of the videotape have been sold to raise funds for the activities of Coral Ridge Ministries which include the underwriting of expenses of Chief Justice Moore's legal defense." Moore v. Judicial Inquiry Commission of the State of Alabama, at 850, n.2 (2004). Shortly thereafter, three attorneys who practiced in the Judicial Building filed two lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama seeking the removal of the monument; they were consolidated as Glassroth v. Moore (M.D.Ala. 2003). The district court, citing Establishment Clause violations, ordered Moore to remove the monument; Moore refused to comply and appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Eventually, the district court's order was upheld by the court of appeals, Glassroth v. Moore (2003); the United States Supreme Court denied Moore's petition for a writ of certiorari, Moore v. Glassroth (2003); and the monument was eventually removed, against Moore's will, on August 27, 2003. (For an excellent summary of the litigation history, see Moore v. Judicial Inquiry Commission of the State of Alabama (2004).)