Alabama justices order removal of monument

MSNBC staff and wire reports

The eight associate justices of the Alabama Supreme Court on Thursday overruled Chief Justice Roy Moore and directed that a Ten Commandments monument be removed from the public area of the state Judicial Building in compliance with a federal court order. But Moore's supporters vowed to prevent workers from removing the 5,300-pound granite marker and called on all "Christian people who love God" to come to Montgomery and join their blockade.

DESPITE THE ORDER, issued Thursday morning by the associate justices, the monument remained on view inside the building, and it remained unclear how the escalating dispute over whether the monument violates the U.S. Constitution's ban on government promotion of religion would play out.

The associate justices' order instructed the building's manager to "take all steps necessary to comply (with the federal court order) ... as soon as practicable," said Senior Associate Justice Gorman Houston.

Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor indicated that the court might try to avoid a confrontation with the protesters by moving it to a private room rather than taking it out of the building.

But the protesters said they would block access to the building to prevent workers from bringing in tools necessary to move the slab.

PROTESTERS VOW TO BLOCK ACCESS
"We are committed to peacefully and prayerfully seeing that this monument is not taken out," said the Rev. Patrick Mahoney of the Washington, D.C.-based Christian Defense Coalition.

Mahoney also called for others who support the public display of the commandments to join the approximately three dozen protesters on the steps of the courthouse early Thursday.

"We are calling for Christian people who love God ... to come to Montgomery, Ala.," Mahoney said.

"As long as we are here this monument is not coming out."

At issue in the case is U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson's ruling that the monument violates the constitution's ban on government establishment of religion and must be removed from its public place in the rotunda. He had set Thursday as his deadline, but Moore said he would not have the monument moved.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Moore's emergency plea for a stay late Wednesday afternoon, declining for the time being to be drawn into the dispute.

In the seven-page order calling for the monument to be moved, the court's associate justices wrote that they were "bound by solemn oath to follow the law, whether they agree or disagree with it."

The monument was walled off from public view from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. -- apparently on the order of the associate justices -- as Thompson's deadline passed for the marker to be out of public sight, but the plywood partition was then removed without explanation.

The associate justices' order was issued about 10 a.m.

Moore's spokesman, Tom Parker, said the chief justice was out of town for a family funeral but decided to return to Montgomery when he learned the monument had been walled from public view. Moore scheduled a 3:30 p.m. ET news conference to discuss Thursday's turn of events.

CHIEF JUSTICE ISSUES STATEMENT
Beforehand, in a statement issued by Parker, he said, "This is an example of what is happening in this country: the acknowledgment of God as the moral foundation of law in this nation is being hidden from us."

Attorney Ayesha Khan, an attorney for the plaintiffs fighting to get the monument removed, said the associate justices' decision "just shows what an extremist Roy Moore is, that all eight of the other justices are refusing to stand with him."

Earlier, another plaintiffs' attorney, Richard Cohen, said a motion was filed with Thompson asking that Moore be held in contempt. It was not immediately clear if the associate justices' action would make the motion moot. Thompson, who had threatened to fine the state $5,000 a day, had not been expected to take up the matter until Friday.

Pryor, the Alabama attorney general, said he filed notice with Thompson indicating that the monument would be moved under the associate justices' order, and expressed hope that the action would dissuade the federal judge from imposing fines.

Moore's supporters have been on the steps of the building since Wednesday, singing and praying. Some who entered the rotunda and refused to leave voluntarily were were removed in handcuffs.

21 PROTESTERS ARRESTED
A total of 21 protesters were arrested and taken to the Montgomery County Jail, where they were charged with trespassing. Most were released on their recognizance.

Earlier Wednesday evening, Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, asked who was willing to lay down in front of the doors to keep the monument inside. Most raised their hands.

Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes then delivered a fiery speech, saying the efforts of courts and government to stifle religion must end.

"This must end or freedom will end with it," Keyes said. "No longer can we tolerate this crime that is being done against our movement for almighty God."

It remained unclear when or if the monument would be removed.

Thompson was not expected to take action before Friday. He has threatened $5,000-a-day fines against the state if his deadline was ignored. Those fines could double after the first week.

Attorneys who sued to remove the monument said they expect to file a contempt of court petition against Moore that Thompson may consider in a conference call Friday, setting the stage for fines.

"It's time for Roy's rock to roll," said Ayesha Khan, an attorney for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, one of the groups.

Moore, who installed the monument in the rotunda of the judicial building two years ago in the middle of the night, said in a statement that he does not consider the case over and pointed out that he still plans to appeal to the Supreme Court on the merits of the case.

JUDGE VOWED TO FIGHT ON
"The U.S. Supreme Court's denial of a stay today will not deter me from continuing to fight for the right of our state to acknowledge God as the moral foundation of our law," Moore said in a statement read by his spokesman hours before the deadline to remove the monument.

Moore's statement, read to reporters outside after the court building closed, said he would next ask the U.S. high court "for an appeal on the merits" in the case.

"I expect that the court will vindicate the rule of law regarding the acknowledgment of God in our state," it added.

Moore, the elected chief justice of Alabama's highest court, has said he regards the Commandments as a symbol of the Judeo-Christian foundation of U.S. law.

The Supreme Court has never ruled on the constitutionality of such indoor and outdoor government displays. In 1980, the court barred Ten Commandments from classroom walls in public schools.

The justices' refusal to intervene was not a surprise. An appeals court had twice refused to give Moore a stay.

"It's not like somebody's about to face execution, if the court doesn't enter a stay the person will be dead and the appeal will be moot," said David Frederick, a Washington attorney who specializes in Supreme Court practice. "If the Supreme Court were to decide it's constitutional, it can always be put back."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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