Chief justice vows to fight monument removal order

MONTGOMERY, Alabama (CNN) --Saying I cannot violate my
conscience, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore told a
crowd of enthusiastic supporters Thursday that he
would continue to defy a federal court order to remove
a Ten Commandments monument from the states Judicial
Building rotunda.

Speaking outside the Judicial Building, Moore also
said he was disappointed with the eight justices on
Alabamas state Supreme Court, who earlier in the day
sided with the federal order to remove the 5,000-pound
granite monument.

Moore said he would continue his fight for what he
called the constitutional right to acknowledge God.
Moore said he would turn again to the U.S. Supreme
Court for a ruling acknowledging that right.

The announcement by Moore extended a day of dramatic
events. Early in the morning a screen had been
temporarily placed around the monument. Later in the
morning, the states Supreme Court justices announced
their decision to overrule Moore and issued orders for
the monuments removal from public view.

The refusal of officers of this court to obey a
binding order of a federal court of competent
jurisdiction would impair the authority and ability of
all of the courts of this state to enforce their
judgments, the eight associate justices announced.

The associate justices wrote that they are bound by
solemn oath to follow the law, whether they agree or
disagree with it, The Associated Press reported.

A federal judge had ruled the monument violates the
U.S. Constitutions ban on government establishment of
religion and must be removed from its public place in
the rotunda. The judge had set the end of Wednesday a
deadline.

Alabamas senior associate justice, Gorman Houston,
said last week the remainder of the court would take
whatever steps are necessary to avoid a threatened
$5,000-a-day contempt fine.

On Wednesday Moore vowed to keep the monument in the
rotunda of the state building, despite the U.S.
Supreme Courts refusal to become involved in the case
after it rejected Moores emergency plea for a stay of
the federal judges order to remove the statue.

Before Thursdays action by the justices, Alabama State
Attorney General Bill Pryor had said officials were
prepared to remove the 3-foot-tall granite monument
very soon.

The monument was ordered removed from the judicial
building by the end of the day Wednesday by U.S.
District Judge Myron Thompson of Montgomery, or else
the state would face fines. In his ruling, Thompson
said that by being in public view on pubic land, the
monument violates the constitutional ban on government
promotion of religion.

Moore accused Thompson of abuse of power, callous
disregard to the people of this state and threatening
to drain huge amounts of public funds from the state
of Alabama because of the cost of the ongoing legal
battle.

Wednesday evening, more than two dozen protesters
supporting Moore were arrested in the rotunda, after
they refused police orders to disperse from the
monument.

The case stemmed from a lawsuit filed in October 2001
by three organizations on behalf of three Alabama
lawyers who often had business at the judicial
building and said the monument offended them. Thompson
ruled in their favor last year.

Moore appealed the decision, but in July the 11th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, ruled
unanimously that Moore violated the constitutional
separation of church and state by installing the
monument.

The courts ruling compared Moore to segregationist
Southern governors of the past who refused to
integrate college campuses even after federal court
orders to do so -- and predicted that if Moore
appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court he would lose.
Moore told CNN that any comparison to George Wallace,
the four-term Alabama governor who opposed integration
of Alabama public schools, was unfounded.

Wallace stood in the doorway to keep people out, Moore
said. Were trying to keep God in. Wallace stood for
division. Were standing for unity.

Moore said he would take on other state officials who
stand by Thompsons decision. Each of them has also
taken an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United
States.