EDITOR'S NOTE: The following story updates information in the original article of 6-2-04. There also is a correction to the name of Jean Brown in the second paragraph.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (ABP) — An advisor to former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore won a tightly contested primary battle June 1 over a Baptist Sunday School teacher who is one of Moore's former colleagues.
With the vast majority of the state's precincts reporting, former Moore aide Tom Parker apparently defeated current Justice Jean Brown by a 51-49 percent margin in the state's Republican primary for a position on the state Supreme Court. Parker will face Democrat Robert Smith in the general election.
Brown was among Moore's colleagues on the court who voted unanimously to suspend him from office last year — causing an international media sensation and making Moore a folk hero among many. The vote came after he defied a federal judge's order to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments that he had placed in the rotunda of the state judicial headquarters building.
Both Moore and Brown are Southern Baptists.
Two federal courts ruled that the monument violated the First Amendment's ban on government endorsement of religion. But Moore claimed both the Alabama and federal constitutions required him to “acknowledge God,” prompting such a display.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Moore's appeal, and an Alabama court charged with monitoring judicial abuses voted to remove him from office. Moore appealed that ruling, but a specially appointed state Supreme Court unanimously upheld his removal earlier this year.
The controversial Moore also backed three candidates besides Parker in other state Republican primaries.
In a race for the GOP nomination in the 6th U.S. congressional district, Moore's personal attorney Phillip Jauregui lost badly to incumbent Rep. Spencer Bachus. And Moore-backed candidate Pam Baschab, a criminal appeals judge, lost by a wide margin to Shelby County District Judge Patti Smith in the primary for another seat on the state Supreme Court.
Moore supported Covington County Circuit Judge Jerry Stokes in a four-candidate primary contest for a different seat on the state's high court. As of press time on June 4, it still was not certain whether he had garnered enough votes to make a run-off election with Jefferson County Probate Judge Mike Bolin.
The winner of the Stokes-Bolin contest will face Democrat John Rochester.
In related news, Moore vowed May 27 to appeal his removal from office to the U.S. Supreme Court.
-30-