Suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has made a last-ditch appeal to the Alabama Court of the Judiciary to restore his salary and ability to participate in legal decisions.
In September, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary suspended Moore from the bench for the remainder of his term, due to his unethical and extralegal actions surrounding marriage equality. The decision allowed Moore to remain on the bench, but stripped him of his salary and ability to participate in the court’s legal decisions. Moore’s term is up in 2018, and he will be unable to run for the office of Supreme Court justice again in Alabama as he will be past the office’s age restriction. The nine-member Court of the Judiciary found Moore unanimously guilty of all six charges brought against him.
Moore’s appeal says that the Court of the Judiciary exceeded its authority in suspending Moore for the remainder of his term, effectively removing him from office even though it did not have the unanimous vote of its nine members required to formally remove him from office, reported AL.com. Moore’s term ends in January 2019.
“This is the desperate final act of Roy Moore’s failed campaign to restore his position on the Alabama Supreme Court after flagrantly and willfully attempting to block marriage equality at every turn,” said Eva Kendrick, state manager for the Human Rights Campaign, Alabama. “Roy Moore is wasting the court’s time and Alabama taxpayer money, and we urge members of the Court of the Judiciary to stand by their decision.”
Earlier this year, HRC Alabama initiated the #NoMoore campaign to remove Moore from the Alabama Supreme Court for his blatant legal and ethical failings. HRC Alabama called out Moore’s discriminatory behavior with a billboard in downtown Montgomery, and held rallies and press conferences outside each of Moore’s ethics hearings. This marks the second time Moore has faced negative consequences for pushing his personal agenda from the state’s highest court.
