'Ten Commandments Judge' opts not to hang plaque in high court chamber
By The Associated Press
01.29.01
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MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The state's new chief justice, known around the
nation as the "Ten Commandments Judge," has decided to hang the plaque of
the Old Testament laws in his office rather than the Supreme Court chamber.
The court heard its first case on Jan. 26 since Roy Moore became chief
justice on Jan. 15, and the plaque was nowhere to be seen.
Moore's clerk said the justice had hung the ornament on a wall in
his outer office. Moore and other court officials did not return calls for
comment.
He waged a battle in state and
federal court to keep the homemade plaque posted in his Gadsden courtroom,
where he had served as a circuit judge before winning the race for chief
justice last November.
In the campaign, he advertised himself as "Alabama's Ten
Commandments judge" and promised to bring the plaque with him to the Supreme
Court building in Montgomery.
When he took office, Moore said he was not ready to say where he would
put it, but added, "God's law will be publicly acknowledged in our
court."
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