Liberty Counsel, the Christian conservative legal group representing Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, has filed a lawsuit over his suspension.
Liberty Counsel, which also represented Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis in her legal fight to deny marriage licenses to gay couples, is asking a federal court to immediately reinstate Moore.
The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC) forwarded charges to the Alabama Court of the Judiciary accusing Moore of violating judicial ethics related to his opposition to marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
Moore was suspended with pay until the court hands down its ruling.
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said that the charges against Moore must be dismissed because "the JIC has no jurisdiction over an Administrative Order of the Chief Justice. Only the Alabama Supreme Court has jurisdiction, and that court agreed with the order."
After a federal judge in Mobile last year struck down Alabama's marriage ban, Moore ordered probate judges to ignore the ruling and refuse to issue licenses to gay couples.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed the complains against Moore with the JIC.
Moore has also spoken out publicly against marriage equality, claiming that such unions go against God, will lead to incest, polygamy and child abuse, and will "destroy" the United States.
Moore was ousted from the bench in 2003 for refusing to remove from public property a monument of the Ten Commandments which he had commissioned. Voters returned him to the bench a decade later.
Liberty Counsel, which also represented Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis in her legal fight to deny marriage licenses to gay couples, is asking a federal court to immediately reinstate Moore.
The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC) forwarded charges to the Alabama Court of the Judiciary accusing Moore of violating judicial ethics related to his opposition to marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
Moore was suspended with pay until the court hands down its ruling.
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said that the charges against Moore must be dismissed because "the JIC has no jurisdiction over an Administrative Order of the Chief Justice. Only the Alabama Supreme Court has jurisdiction, and that court agreed with the order."
After a federal judge in Mobile last year struck down Alabama's marriage ban, Moore ordered probate judges to ignore the ruling and refuse to issue licenses to gay couples.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed the complains against Moore with the JIC.
Moore has also spoken out publicly against marriage equality, claiming that such unions go against God, will lead to incest, polygamy and child abuse, and will "destroy" the United States.
Moore was ousted from the bench in 2003 for refusing to remove from public property a monument of the Ten Commandments which he had commissioned. Voters returned him to the bench a decade later.
Article provided in partnership with On Top Magazine
