Judge Moore wants quick prayer ruling
By ASHLEY ESTES
The Associated PressMONTGOMERY — Circuit Judge Roy Moore has asked the state Supreme Court to solve what he says is growing confusion over matters of religion in public places by expediting a decision on his courtroom Ten Commandments display and prayers at the start of jury sessions.
In a motion filed Tuesday, Moore also criticized statements reportedly made by Supreme Court Justice Mark Kennedy about him in a speech earlier this year, including that Moore "probably wants to be the King of Siam one day, or be a U.S. senator."
Moore's motion asks the court to set a date for oral argument in the case and expedite a ruling. In the motion, he blames the state's puzzlement on public religion on a state court judge's ruling restricting courtroom religion and a federal court order limiting religious activities in DeKalb County schools.
"Such orders ... continue to have a chilling effect on the public acknowledgment of God in public places by both private citizens and public servants," the motion says.
Attorneys working with the American Civil Liberties Union have also asked the Supreme Court to hold oral arguments on the case.
Circuit Judge Charles Price of Montgomery ruled in November 1996 and February 1997 that Moore's practice of inviting local clergy to his Gadsden courtroom to lead prayers and his courtroom display of the Ten Commandments were unconstitutional.
The issue has since become a lightning rod for politicians, with Gov. Fob James declaring he would call out the National Guard to keep the commandments on Moore's wall.
Moore appealed in April. The court has delayed Price's orders pending the outcome of the appeal.
The motion Tuesday said quick action by the court would "remove the apparent temptation" of judges to remark on the case. The motion referred to remarks Moore said Kennedy made in August before the National Alliance of Children's Trust and Prevention Funds National Conference in Seattle.
Moore's motion said that Kennedy, while discussing the Ten Commandments, remarked, "A circuit judge in our state, who probably wants to be King of Siam or a United States senator, hung the Ten Commandments in his courtroom."
The motion claims Kennedy also talked about the crowd that attended a Save the Ten Commandments rally held in Montgomery. It quotes Kennedy as saying, "We need those same 10,000 people who gathered on the steps of the state Capitol to live the Ten Commandments."
Kennedy was out of town and unavailable for comment, according to his court aides.
Moore claims in his motion he was required to appear for examination before the inquiry commission in December 1996 because of complaints from the American Jewish Congress and others.
The Jewish organization called on the commission to investigate after Moore's reported remarks that his "duty under the Constitution is to acknowledge the Judeo-Christian God, not the gods of other faith. We are not a nation founded upon the Hindu god or Buddha."
Moore's motion, while critical of Kennedy's comments, did not specifically request that he remove himself from the Ten Commandments case or the Judicial inquiry.
The motion also claims that Price's ruling questions the constitutionality of the practice of "Red Mass" by some judges and other public servants, a 24-year tradition instituted by then-Supreme Court Chief Justice Howell Heflin.
The activities are held the same day the state Supreme Court begins its new terms, and include prayer and Bible readings, the motion said.
The Huntsville Times, Wednesday December 3, 1997
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