Freedom

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that sought to return ousted Chief Justice Roy Moore’s Ten Commandments monument to the state Judicial Building rotunda.

A three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled March 5 in a suit that claimed removing Moore’s monument violated the First Amendment by establishing “a nontheistic religion” or faith.

The ruling said Christian radio broadcaster Kelly McGinley of Mobile and other plaintiffs in the suit tried to compel U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson to ignore his own ruling and that of the 11th Circuit that said placement of the monument in the rotunda was an unconstitutional state establishment of religion.

The appeals court ruled that Thompson acted correctly in dismissing the suit.

The plaintiffs had argued that moving Moore’s monument “created empty space,” which they said violates the First Amendment because it endorses a religion of “nontheism.” The appeals court called that argument “without merit.”

If that argument were correct, the ruling said, then no monument that violated the Constitution could be removed because its removal would leave behind empty space.

California attorney Brian Chavez-Ochoa of Valencia, who represented the plaintiffs, said he would consult with his clients about whether to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the 11th Circuit’s ruling.

McGinley’s attorney also filed a separate suit seeking to reinstate Moore to the state Supreme Court, claiming her federal due process and voting rights were violated when the non-elected state Court of the Judiciary removed Moore from office for ethics violations. No hearing has been set on that complaint.

The judicial ethics panel expelled Moore from office in November for refusing to obey a federal court order to remove the Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda. Moore’s appeal is pending before a special Supreme Court panel.

The case decided last week is McGinley v. Houston (PDF Format).

Posted by Editor at March 8, 2004 03:47 AM