In Matter of Compliance with Writ of Injunction, Order No. 03-01.

• Decision Date: 21 August 2003
• Docket Number: Order No. 03-01.
• Parties: In the Matter of Compliance with Writ of Injunction of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

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In the Matter of Compliance with Writ of Injunction of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.

Order No. 03-01.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

August 21, 2003.

At a Special Conference of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama called for the purpose of considering the question whether to invoke Ala. Code 1975, § 12-5-20,¹ the following findings were made:

(1) On August 1, 2001, Chief Justice Roy S. Moore, without prior notice to the Court, installed and unveiled a monument in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building. The Ten Commandments and quotations from history are inscribed on the monument.

(2) At the time this monument was installed by the Chief Justice, there existed some cases holding that the display of the Ten Commandments on public property was not constitutionally impermissible in certain circumstances.² Subsequent to the installation of the monument, some courts have upheld depictions of the Ten Commandments.³

(3) Actions were filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama to have the monument removed from the rotunda of the State Judicial Building as a violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. On November 18, 2002, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama held that the monument violated the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, Glassroth v. Moore, 229 F. Supp. 2d 1290 (M.D. Ala. 2002). On December 19, 2002, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama entered a permanent injunction to remove the monument from the Alabama Judicial Building, Glassroth v. Moore, 242 F. Supp. 2d 1067 (M.D. Ala. 2002). On December 23, 2002, the United States District Court entered an order staying its injunction pending appeal, Glassroth v. Moore, 242 F. Supp. 2d 1068 (M.D. Ala. 2002).

(4) On July 1, 2003, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the judgment of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, Glassroth v. Moore, ___ F.3d ___ (11th Cir. 2003). The Chief Justice did not move for a stay pending filing of a petition to the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari prior to the issuance of the mandate by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on July 30, 2003.

(5) On August 5, 2003, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama entered its "FINAL JUDGMENT AND INJUNCTION" in which it ordered that its stay entered on December 23, 2002, was dissolved and in which it enjoined "defendant Roy S. Moore, his officers, agents, servants, and employees, and those persons in active concert or participation with him who received actual notice of this injunction," from "failing to remove, by no later than August 20, 2003, the Ten Commandments monument at issue in this litigation from the non-private areas of the Alabama State Judicial Building." On August 6, 2003, the United States District Court ordered the United States Marshal to serve a copy of the final judgment and companion writ on each of the associate justices of this Court and on the clerk of this Court.

(6) The Chief Justice publicly stated on August 14, 2003, that he would not comply with the injunction of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.

(7) On August 14, 2003, the Chief Justice advised the associate justices that he would file a Petition for Writ of Mandamus and/or Prohibition in the Supreme Court of the United States on Friday, August 15, 2003, and that he would thereafter file a motion for a stay of the writ of injunction in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. At a special conference on the afternoon of August 14, 2003, a majority of the associate justices agreed to defer consideration of further action pending the possibility of the entry of an order staying the writ of injunction.

(8) On Friday, August 15, 2003, the Chief Justice filed a Petition for Writ of Mandamus and/or Prohibition in the Supreme Court of the United States and filed a motion for a stay in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.

(9) On Monday, August 18, 2003, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama denied the Chief Justice's motion for a stay. The Chief Justice immediately filed a Motion to Recall the Mandate and a Motion for Stay in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. On August 19, 2003, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit declined to recall its mandate or to enter a stay.

(10) On August 20, 2003, the Chief Justice filed with the United States Supreme Court an Application to Recall and Stay the Mandate, which was denied.

(11) As of the time of the entry of this order, the Chief Justice has not complied with the injunction for the removal of the monument from the non-private areas of the Judicial Building.

(12) Article VI of the Constitution of the United States provides that the Constitution is "the supreme Law of the Land ... and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." The justices of this Court are bound by solemn oath to follow the law, whether they agree or disagree with it, because: "All of the officers of the government,...