By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – The judicial ethics trial of suspended Chief Justice Roy Moore begins tomorrow, and Attorney General Bill Pryor wants him removed from office.
Six ethics charges were leveled against Moore after he defied a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building.
Yesterday, Pryor filed a motion that says Moore should be removed because he "intentionally and publicly engaged in misconduct, and because he remains unrepentant for his behavior." Pryor also wrote that Moore also "sought to incite the public to support his lawless behavior."
Meanwhile, a coalition of Christian groups continues a tour of the state as it tries to rally public support for suspended Chief Justice Roy Moore's ethics trial which begins tomorrow.
Yesterday, at least twenty pastors from across the Shoals joined the fray. They called for the Court of the Judiciary to dismiss charges against Moore for defying a federal court order to regarding his Ten Commandments monument. Yesterday, Moore's supporters staged rallies in Florence and Huntsville. Today, they'll be in Birmingham and Mobile. A final rally will be held tomorrow in Montgomery before the trial.
However, the shows of public support may not carry much muster with the Court of the Judiciary ...
Court secretary John Wilkerson says he expects judiciary members to remain fair minded and immune from outside influence.
Wilkerson says they are "not a bunch of lightweights" and take their job very seriously. He also says his office has gotten as many as a thousand letters related to the issue, and doesn't believe the Court would consider public outcry from either side.
Moore and his supporters have opposed that idea though, saying the Court is a biased body intent on driving Moore from office.