Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore suspended over gay ‘marriage’ order

Oct 1, 2016 by Jill

by Fr Mark Hodges, LifeSite:

Pro-marriage and family conservative stalwart Judge Roy Moore was suspended Friday for the rest of his term after he opposed a federal court order on same-sex “marriage.”

Moore is the Alabama Supreme Court chief justice who was suspended in May for telling probate judges to follow the state’s ban against homosexual “marriage” while the Alabama Supreme Court reviewed the matter. Because of his directive, Moore has been the focus of a campaign by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and other liberal groups to unseat him.

Alabama’s nine-member Court of the Judiciary ruled unanimously in favor of suspending Moore because of “his disregard for binding federal law” while refusing to marry same-sex couples. His term was to expire in 2019. The 69-year-old judge was not removed from the bench entirely, but he will be unable to seek the position again because of age limits.

On January 6, six months after the U.S. Supreme Court constitutionalized same-sex “marriage” in Obergefell v. Hodges, Moore issued an order to probate judges that for the time being they should follow the Alabama Supreme Court decision upholding the state’s same-sex “marriage” ban.

Moore’s directive stated, “Until further decision by the Alabama Supreme Court, the existing orders of the Alabama Supreme Court that Alabama probate judges have a ministerial duty not to issue any marriage license contrary to the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment or the Alabama Marriage Protection Act remain in full force and effect.”

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