MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who became a hero to religious conservatives for refusing to remove his granite Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse, was thrown off the bench Thursday by a judicial ethics panel for having "placed himself above the law." (...) The nine members of the Court of the Judiciary handed out the the harshest penalty possible, saying Moore left them with no choice by repeatedly insisting he would never obey a federal judge's order to move the 2"-ton block of granite from the courthouse rotunda. "Anything short of removal would only serve to set up another confrontation that would ultimately bring us back to where we are today," the panel said. (...) Moore said he had no animosity toward the panel. But, he said, unless the States stand up, "public acknowledgment of God will be taken from us. 'In God we trust' will be taken from our money and 'one nation under God' from our pledge." It was as a circuit court judge in the 1990s that Moore became known as the "Ten Commandments Judge," after he was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union for opening court sessions with prayer and for displaying a hand carved Ten Commandments display behind his bench. He said Wednesday that when he ran for chief justice in 2000, his entire campaign was based on "restoring the moral foundation of law." www.detnews.com/2003/nation/0311/13/nation-324536.htm
