On this day in Alabama history: Justices voted to remove Ten Commandments monument
Alabama Supreme Court justice Roy Moore stirred controversy in 2001 by displaying a religious monument that included the Ten Commandments in the state's court building in Montgomery. In 2003, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary ordered the monument removed and terminated Moore's term in office. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of The Birmingham News)
August 21, 2003
Eight Alabama Supreme Court justices voted to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building. Chief Justice Roy Moore installed the 5,280-pound granite monument at the beginning of his term, sparking a national controversy over the presence of religious symbols on government property. After Moore refused to obey a federal court order to remove the monument, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary removed him from office. In 2012, Moore was re-elected as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and, in 2016, was suspended from his position for disregarding a federal order overturning the ban on same-sex marriages. He is now seeking election to the U.S. Senate.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
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