MONTGOMERY, Ala. (ABP) — In what may be the final act of the drama that has been Roy Moore's political life, the so-called “Ten Commandments Judge” went down to resounding defeat June 6 in his race for Alabama's Republican gubernatorial nomination.
One of Moore's protégés, meanwhile, also lost a race for the seat that Moore held until he was ousted from it — chief justice of Alabama.
Moore lost to sitting Alabama Gov. Bob Riley (R) 67-33 percent, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. Meanwhile Moore's former associate, Tom Parker, lost the Republican nomination for chief justice to the incumbent, Drayton Nabers, by a 61-39 percent margin.
Both races pitted evangelical Christians against each other.
Moore is most famous nationwide for his standoff with a federal judge that ultimately led to his 2003 removal from the Alabama Supreme Court. Moore was elected chief justice in 2000 after touting his credentials as a promoter of the Decalogue. After taking office in 2001, he had a 2.5-ton monument to the most common Protestant translation of the Commandments installed — under cover of night and without the knowledge of his colleagues on the court — in the rotunda of the state's judicial headquarters building in Montgomery.
When a federal judge ruled that the statue violated the First Amendment by endorsing Christianity, Moore defied the judge's order to remove it even after he had lost his appeals to higher federal courts. Moore claimed his oath to uphold and defend the Alabama Constitution required him to “acknowledge God” by installing the monument.
His fellow justices removed him from office, and their decision was upheld by two subsequent state courts and the federal courts. But, in the wake of the incident, polls showed that Moore, an active Southern Baptist, was one of the most popular people in Alabama.
In 2004, Moore and the Alabama Christian Coalition opposed a tax and constitutional reform plan that Riley and more moderate Christian groups had endorsed. Riley, also a Southern Baptist, and many economists contended that the state's regressive tax structure places a heavy burden on the poorest families while requiring little of wealthy individuals and corporations. But Moore and other opponents of the reforms claimed they would give judges the power to impose taxes without the voters' consent.
The proposal was defeated, and polls at the time showed that Moore could easily defeat Riley in a gubernatorial race. However, his campaign gradually lost steam and he never regained the ground that Riley took from him.
But Riley, in a victory speech to supporters, reportedly admitted admiration for his opponent. “Nobody can ever accuse Roy Moore of not standing up for what he believes,” he said.
Parker, meanwhile, led a slate of Moore-aligned judicial candidates who were defeated by similarly wide margins. He served as a Moore staffer and as an employee of Moore's non-profit foundation before being elected to the state's high court in 2004. An active Methodist, his campaign against Nabers drew more attention than the gubernatorial race in its final days due to a level of mud-slinging unusual for an Alabama judicial election.
Both launched attacks on their opponents through the news media and in campaign ads. Parker upset many judges and other legal experts in the state by criticizing his colleagues for following a recent federal Supreme Court decision on the death penalty. Nabers countered that ignoring higher court decisions would lead to legal anarchy.
“Although it was a personal defeat for me, I am encouraged to see this percent of Alabama voters support the issues we were advocating,” Parker said in the wake of his loss, according to the Advertiser. “The public is beginning to see the problems with judicial activism and how it affects our values and our institutions.” He will remain an associate justice of the court until his term expires in 2010.
Nabers, an Episcopalian, was appointed by Riley to fill Moore's unexpired term as chief justice. He has served as an adjunct professor at Beeson Divinity School, part of Baptist-affiliated Samford University in Birmingham.
Both Riley and Nabers will face Democratic opponents in the November general election.
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