In a brilliant move to keep the scheduled November 12 prosecution of Chief Justice Roy Moore by Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary, from becoming a “star chamber” proceeding, attorneys for the Chief Justice have filed a motion to allow the entire proceedings to be televised. With the bulk of public opinion so squarely behind the Chief Justice, with what increasingly appears to be a behind-the scenes effort to run the Chief Justice out of town, and with the compelling nature of the case for the Chief Justice, it is not only appropriate, but in the best interest of justice that the highest elected judicial officer in Alabama be given the opportunity to be tried before the people who elected him and gave him the mandate to honor God through a public display of the Ten Commandments.
Up to now, the Attorney General has been in consultation with other Alabama officials to strip the Chief Justice of his lawful authority prior to the trial, including his administrative duties (which under Alabama law are not to be affected by the up-and-coming trial). The behind the scenes attacks and efforts to undermine the Chief Justice have been numerous. Incredibly, without consultation or notice to the Chief Justice, Senior Associate Justice Gorman Houston, having counseled with Bill Pryor, fired or relocated key members of the Chief Justice’s staff, and asked remaining members to sign loyalty oaths to himself. Although he cited budget cuts for firing Moore’s staffers, he gave another member of his staff a $10,000 pay raise during the same time period. Houston also sent a letter to judges across the state accusing the Chief Justice of setting himself over the law, and of placing the monument “under cover of darkness.”