God in The Courtroom, Not in Tax Policy

One Alabaman, Chief Justice Roy Moore, refuses to take a Ten Commandments display out of a state courthouse, saying

“We have a federal judge saying we can’t recognize who God is, yet that’s the basis of our justice system. They have the audacity to come into our court and say we have to remove the foundation of our law, which is the Ten Commandments…I have no intention of removing the monument. This I cannot and will not do.”

The smart money is on Judge Moore announcing in the near future that he’s either writing a book or running for statewide office.

Meanwhile, Alabama’s Republican Governor, Bob Riley, is using appeals to Christian notions of fairness and justice in an attempt to garner support for his plan to deal with Alabama’s $675m deficit by simultaneously increasing taxes and making the state’s tax system less regressive. Needless to say, The Christian Coalition of Alabama opposes Riley’s plan. (For the full Alabama tax story, go here).

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The two issues may be more closely related than they appear. The same story says that Moore said that the state has spent $125 million defending the monument’s place! I don’t see how that’s possible, but that’s what the Fox News story says.

UPDATE: To clarify, the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court is an elected position, so my prediction that Moore will be “running for statewide office” is not particularly bold. What I mean is running for the Senate or the Governor’s office.