Roy Moore faces ethics complaint for same sex ruling

To help you further:

Effective immediately, no probate judge of the state of Alabama nor any agent or employee of any Alabama probate judge shall issue or recognize a marriage license that is inconsistent with (the Alabama Constitution)," Moore wrote.

The Chief Judge has no ministerial power to issue marriage licenses. He does have the power to give a legal opinion as the Alabama Constitution and what he believes is inconsistent with the same.

If his letter was legally challenged, it still would not get the ministerial functions at the Probate level to issue the marriage licenses. The District Judge recognizing the opinion of the chief judge directing Probate judges to follow the Alabama Constitution is IRRELEVANT.....because he has No power to issue a license which is done by the Probate judges, and the question is NOT the Alabama Constitution, but the court's ruling that marriage certificates SHALL issue to same sex couples. Your entire ethics interpretation ignores what is really going on, and discounts the right of litigants to have differing legal opinions. A rule to show cause hearing will follow if the Mobile Probate Judge refuses.......He will be found in contempt.....his punishment will be stayed by appeal or compliance. That is it.....the whole story.....nothing to do with ethics.

Again that was not an opinion. It was an order. Whether he had the legal ability is not the issue. He directed the Ala. judges to not comply w/ a federal ruling. I say this again he did not have any right to do that. Simple stuff.

As usual.....you do not understand.  However, I will give you an opportunity to explain your position.

Again that was not an opinion. It was an order. Whether he had the legal ability is not the issue. He directed the Ala. judges to not comply w/ a federal ruling. I say this again he did not have any right to do that. Simple stuff.

If you were even close to understanding the issue, then how would you explain why the order from the Chief Judge was not the subject of the District Court Judge's hearing where the Probate Judge in Mobile was the only person named?  If the order was non compliance with a federal ruling rather than an order of compliance with Alabama Constitution, why would the District Court waste time with each individual Probate Judge in the State of Alabama when they could issue injunctive relief against the Chief Judge, hold him in contempt, and then issue an order to all the Probate Judges?   The reason they did not is because Alabama has a legal right to disagree with an opinion of the Appellate bank at THIS time, and what you do not understand is that there are still TWO more levels of relief if the Probate judge wishes to defy the District Court determination, is found in contempt, and does NOT comply with the order.   The Chief of the Supreme Court is irrelevant.....you still do not get this, and he has EVERY right under the 10th Amendment to make his states rights argument, he does not have a right to defy a direct order from the District Judge after a hearing compelling compliance.....which as I have explained the power exists at the Probate Judge level.   In your eyes not understanding any of this makes it simple.  You have the tendency to simplify and make up what you do not understand.   The ethics threat, the Chief giving an order to follow the Alabama Constitution, are all irrelevant to the steps required for compliance, which is not as your simple world believes happens magically when the Appellate Bank extends a ruling into a particular state under their jurisdiction.

Seaoat read this carefully. Judge Moore violated a judicial ethics canon that prohibits judges from making public comments on pending cases or impending cases. Therefore, he did not have a right to do that. You are wrong. Admit it and move on.

Seaoat read this carefully. Judge Moore violated a judicial ethics canon that prohibits judges from making public comments on pending cases or impending cases. Therefore, he did not have a right to do that. You are wrong. Admit it and move on.

Let me help you again. This judge was removed from office after the judge defied THE DISTRICT COURT order to remove the 10 commandments from the courthouse, and a special ethics court was conveyed because of the contempt under the District Court order. In this case what you simply cannot comprehend is that the stay on stopping same sex marriage has expired and as such the ultimate issue had not been exhausted by the Alabama Courts. His order of compliance with the Alabama Constitution defied NO COURT ORDER, simply the expiration of the ban on same sex marriage......he has committed NO ethical violation because he has violated no order, and what you do not understand is that after the District Judge ruled, there could be two more steps. However, I will give you a chance to link to any credible source other than some people unhappy with his right to delay under the rules of our federal courts who do not even understand the procedure. Please show me one link where he has defied a federal order like he did the first time with the 10 commandments, where a special ethics commission was conveyed and he was relieved from office. If your making stuff up is so simple.....the link should be easy.

Your first link does not do the trick.  He has not defied a court order and was not the subject of a District Court hearing......the Probate judge in Mobile was during the first step.   I guarantee you he will not be removed from office for the letter, nor does any alleged ethical violation have ANYTHING to do with the issue at hand.  However, from this point forward, there could be ethical violations, but certainly not during any legitimate appeals period, only after those are exhausted and someone fails to comply......which is exactly what this judge did on the 10 commandments.   If you are familiar with that case, then you would understand why you are wrong here.   It was ONLY after the defiance of the District Court order that he was sanctioned with an ethics violation.

I never said he defied a court order. I don't know where you get that? I said he ordered the judges to not comply w/ the federal ruling by writing that letter which is against the judicial canons. Why do you keep twisting what I said? It is a violation to publicly comment on a pending case.
No he won't be removed from office but you keep saying he had a right to do that and you are wrong. I guess you know more than than the lawyers at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

It is a violation to publicly comment on a pending case.


What case is pending in the Alabama Courts? The ending of the stay is not a pending case in the Alabama Courts. There was not a case pending in the Alabama Courts until AFTER the District Court ordered the Probate Judge in Mobile to issue the marriage certificates. There will be no ethics violation for the letter......NONE. Just because an interest group files an ethics complaint does not make it right, nor does it mean anything will happen to the judge.

I never said he defied a court order.


"Judge Moore says states are not bound by lower federal rulings." What lower federal court ruling........the stay on issuing marriage certificates simply expired, which was specifically given to give time for folks to appeal, and his 10th amendment right to exhaust his claim that the Alabama Constitution must be followed is part of that same process which allowed the case to go to hearing in the District Court......you can mince words with a court order, or a court ruling, but please show me where he defied a lower court ruling....unlike the 10 commandments where the appeals were exhausted and he defied the District Court, he has cleverly got folk spewing nonsense. There will be compliance, but we have not even got to that point until the Probate Judge complies with the District Court Order, or appeals. Just because a person files a ethics violation against a judge hearing a divorce, does it mean the judge is guilty of the same, or that anything changes in the substantive decisions of the Divorce case........My only point was that the hysteria of the news media and the absence of any credible links only confuses what you think is simple.....No wonder Fox News viewers go off half cocked.

Ask Judge Moore what the lower federal ruling was? He said it. I didn't. The same sex case is before the Supreme Court so he commented publicly on a pending case. If you want to argue w/ the SPLC feel free but I don't think your knowledge supersedes theirs. Argue w/ them. LOL!

The marriage case before the United States Supreme Court does not involve the State of Alabama constitution ban on same sex marriage. His letter went to Alabama law. He did not comment on a pending case.......and as to SPLC, a great organization, they are simply wrong on this one. You can have the joy of proving me wrong when a special ethics court is appointed and removes the judge......it will not happen, because again, he did not comment on a pending case, nor did he defy a judge's order. I will wait a year if I am still Phere for you to prove me wrong.......but again, just because they are piszed that he his exhausting the remedies allowed under our constitution and specifically the 10th amendment does NOT mean the accusation of an ethics violation is valid, or that if the Probate Judge defies the order and appeals that marriage certificates will issue immediately.....they may, but only if the Probate Judge and their fellow judges CHOOSE not to appeal the District Court judge. If the SPLC said somebody was going to be executed right away in a death sentence before all appeals were exhausted, you would recognize the absurdity of their filing for any other reason than attacking the judge who trumped them entirely and was reelected after the last round with SPLC.......I will await for you to chuckle at me not knowing more than SPLC this year.....I will wait......

You're starting to sound like Kenye West now.If I had to bet on who knows more about the law-you or the SPLC.Guess which one I would pick or anyone would? I think your puff has puckered out on this one.

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/splc-submits-new-judicial-ethics-complaint-against-alabama-chief-justice-as-11th-c