Behind the Ten Commandments case

MONTGOMERY, Ala., July 8 (JTA) — The plaintiff in the lawsuit against Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore´s Ten Commandments monument actually thinks the monument “is very nice.” The 5,280-pound granite monument in the state Judicial Building´s rotunda “would look very good in a proper setting,” Montgomery attorney Stephen Glassroth said. “I didn´t think it to be particularly appropriate in the state Judicial Building or appropriate for a state official to be proselytizing his particular brand” of religion. That is why Glassroth and two other attorneys filed suit against Moore. On Nov. 18, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled that the monument violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. And on July 1, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld that ruling. For Glassroth, last week´s ruling marks the latest — but not necessarily the last — chapter in a case that has catapulted the Jewish attorney to national attention. Reacting to his latest legal setback, Moore told reporters last week that the federal courts are “simply wrong to conclude that we cannot recognize the sovereignty of God.” He argues that the whole of American law comes from the inalienable rights given to each person by God, not by government, and that as a government official it is his duty to acknowledge God´s role in the nation´s life. Moore has not decided what course of action to take following this ruling. He has three weeks to request a rehearing or 90 days to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. To be reviewed by the Supreme Court, four justices must vote to hear it. The long chain of events began in 1994, when Moore was a circuit court judge in Etowah County. A letter went out advising judges to cease having clergy offer prayers during court sessions, and to remove religious displays from courtrooms. Moore refused to discontinue having exclusively Protestant clergy offer prayers, and refused to remove a hand-carved Ten Commandments display. Two members of the Alabama Freethought Association, with assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union, filed suit, making Moore a folk hero in the Bible Belt. That case was dismissed for “lack of standing,” but the State of Alabama then filed suit to force a ruling that the practices were not unconstitutional. The Alabama Supreme Court dismissed that case as “nonjusticiable.” In 2000, Moore ran for chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, with the nickname “the Ten Commandments Judge.” After his inauguration, he quietly commissioned the monument, not using any public funding and not alerting any of his colleagues at the state Supreme Court. The granite monument has a Protestant version of the Ten Commandments on top, with quotes from historical figures below. The quotes about religion in public life are not on the same plane as the Ten Commandments because “speech of any man alongside the revealed law of God would diminish the very purpose of the Ten Commandments monument,” Moore explained. The only film crew told about the monument´s overnight installation on July 31, 2001, was from Coral Ridge Ministries in Florida, which used the footage in its ongoing fund-raising efforts to defray Moore´s legal expenses. Thompson, the District Court judge who heard the case, was concerned about that entanglement. “It could be argued that Coral Ridge´s religious activity is being sponsored and financially supported by the chief justice´s installation of the monument as a government official.” Glassroth was out of town at a conference when Moore first installed the monument. The day after returning to Montgomery, Glassroth went to see the stone. “I was really stunned by it,” he said. Later, he spoke with Morris Dees, head of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group that combats hate and discrimination. “I told him how angry it made me, and how out of place I felt in a building that seemed to be preaching ‘Enter ye those who subscribe to our faith,´ ” Glassroth said. Finally, he told Dees that Moore should be sued. “You be the lawyer, I´ll be the client,” he recalled. Glassroth first came to the region in 1978 to work with Dees. A New York City native and a graduate of Northeastern University´s law school in Boston, Glassroth later went into private practice. Glassroth figures his work takes him to the Judicial Building about 40 times a year. He is a member of the Alabama Sentencing Commission, which meets there. The state law library is also there, and he often has cases in the appellate court. Glassroth shrugs aside questions of reactions to what is clearly an unpopular stance in Alabama. “You get some crazy ones, some hate mail, mostly messages,” he said. But that was “a great minority of the overall messages I´ve received.” He is heartened by the outpouring of messages of support, including from religious Christians “who understand the importance of keeping religion a private matter.” “If you live half a century and can´t do something on principle, life becomes less significant and meaningful,” Glassroth said. “This is something important for me, and it´s about time I take a principled stand on something other than my work.” At rallies supporting Moore, Glassroth is rarely mentioned. Wrath is usually reserved for Thompson, and groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union, which are seen as the primary opposition on church-state issues. Moore tells the people of this state and the world that the state judiciary “prefers those who believe as he does,” Glassroth said. “When you´re talking about the law, that´s a very dangerous perception to be advancing.” Moore´s supporters argue that the Ten Commandments is displayed at the U.S. Supreme Court, so Moore´s display should also be permitted. Glassroth said — and the courts agreed — the comparison is baseless. The one at the U.S. Supreme Court “is part of an overall history of lawgivers. It is far more secular.” The Moore monument is in “almost a shrine-like atmosphere. It´s not part of any historical display.” By Moore´s own admission, he set out to make his display a recognition of God, something the courts said crossed the line. “If we adopted his position, the chief justice would be free to adorn the walls of the Alabama Supreme Court´s courtroom with sectarian religious murals and have decidedly religious quotations painted above the bench. “Every government building could be topped with a cross, or a menorah, or a statue of Buddha, depending upon the views of the officials with authority over the premises,” the 11th Court´s opinion said. The court also warned Moore against his stance that only the U.S. Supreme Court has authority to order him, as head of a branch of Alabama´s government, to remove the monument. “If necessary, the court order will be enforced,” the decision said. “The rule of law will prevail.” John Giles, president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, said after last week´s ruling: “We are all shocked by the ruling against the Ten Commandments monument and Chief Justice Roy Moore.” If the stay is lifted, Giles warned, “it is my prediction thousands from across the state and nation will swarm to Montgomery to ensure the monument remains.” Glassroth said last week that he hopes that does not happen. “I´d hate for Alabama to get a black eye again.” Forty years after Alabama Gov. George Wallace stood at the entrance of the University of Alabama in a show of defiance to integration, “I don´t think we need to turn the clock back 40 years and substitute religion for race,” he said. “I just wish the chief justice would speak out and say whatever the final decision is, he will abide by it.”