Judge ousted

last updated 8 January 2015

Montgomery, Ala.

An Alabama ethics panel kicked Chief Justice Roy Moore off the state Supreme Court over his refusal to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the courthouse. The panel said that Moore had “placed himself above the law” by defying a federal judge’s order to get rid of the two-ton granite block because it violated the constitutional separation of church and state. State officials wheeled the monument away this summer, but Moore said that he had no regrets. He vowed to push for laws limiting the power of the federal courts. “You will hear from me again when it comes to the right to acknowledge God,” he said after the hearing. A crowd cheered and chanted, “Roy Moore for Senate!”