Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore: ‘I Don’t Encourage Anyone to Defy a Court Order’
Suspended Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore took the stand during his ethics hearing on Wednesday, telling those gathered that he never told probate judges in the state to defy the United States Supreme Court’s opinion on “gay marriage.”
“I don’t encourage anyone to defy a federal court or state court order,” Moore stated, remarking that it is “ridiculous” to believe otherwise. “I gave them a status in the case, a status of the facts that these orders exist. That is all I did.”
He said that he sent a memo to his colleagues at the Alabama Supreme Court, which had issued an order in March 2015 halting the issuance of same-sex licenses in the state apart from Moore, urging them to provide guidance in light of the federal Obergefell decision....
