The Alabama Supreme Court has upheld the suspension of Chief Justice Roy Moore due to his actions following a landmark legal decision allowing gay marriage in the state.
The specially-appointed court issued their ruling yesterday afternoon. Judges upheld the findings that Chief Justice Moore violated judicial ethics, and that his suspension for the remainder of his term on the court was justified.
Last September, Moore was suspended from the court after a judicial ethics panel found he’d urged the state’s probate judges to defy federal law regarding same-sex marriage. The sitting Supreme Court justices recused themselves from Moore’s appeal, and seven randomly-chosen judges sat on the court that upheld his suspension.
Moore lashed out at the court at a press conference yesterday, saying he considers his suspension and de facto removal from office an illegal punishment and “in clear disregard of the will of the people who elected him Chief Justice.”
When asked yesterday if Moore planned to run for Governor or for the U.S. Senate, he said he’d announce plans for the future next week, after talking with his family.