GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore Will Stand Trial For Defying Same-Sex Marriage Ruling

Roy Moore, former chief justice of Alabama supreme court

Aww, what a shame: notorious bigot Judge Roy Moore is about to learn about justice first-hand, now that a panel has ordered him to go to trial in September over his defiance at the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling.

That’s the good news. The bad news: this could actually help Roy Moore become Alabama’s next governor.

As you’ll recall, back in January Moore wrote a memo to Alabama judges indicating that they should not issue marriage licenses to gay couples. That triggered a complaint from various civil rights groups. And although the wheels of justice turn slowly, those complaints eventually brought Moore before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary, an entity that ensures state judges are behaving properly.

Since Moore’s memo effectively violated a US Supreme Court ruling, it wasn’t hard for the court to agree that Moore’s actions warranted investigation. They just ruled that he’ll have to appear in September to defend his actions.

This is the second time Moore’s gotten in trouble for his personal agendas. A few years ago, he was thrown out of office in a similar proceeding when he refused to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments from government property. As it turns out, there’s an obscure document called The US Constitution that prevents the government from favoring one religion over another.

Now for the bad news: as discussed on a recent episode of the podcast Defining Marriage, a recent survey shows that a large number of Republican voters in Alabama favor Roy Moore in the 2018 race for Alabama’s next governor. (The current Republican governor is embroiled in a sex scandal, because of course he is.)

After Moore was thrown out of office a few years ago, he ran for Supreme Court again and won. If voters were able to forgive his Ten Commandments fit, there’s a good chance they won’t mind his malfeasance over gay marriage. In fact, it might improve his chances. We could soon lose one enemy of equality on the state Supreme Court, only to see him reappear as the chief executive of Alabama.

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