Judicial Inquiry Commission Dismisses Complaints Against Moore
Associated
Press, April 8, 2002
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)—A state judicial panel has
dismissed two more complaints filed against Alabama Supreme Court Chief
Justice Roy Moore over his written opinion that homosexuality is
"inherently evil."
The Judicial Inquiry Commission, in a two-paragraph statement, said it had
thrown out two complaints filed against Moore. One of the complaints was filed
by state Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, and the other was filed by a
Colorado woman.
"The commission found no reasonable basis to charge a violation of the
Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics in connection with one of the complaints,
and no reasonable basis to investigate in connection with the other," the
commission said in the statement.
It did not make clear which finding referred to Holmes’ complaint and
which referred to a complaint filed by Kristin Rutledge Field of Denver.
While complaints against judges normally are handled confidentially, the
commission said Moore requested that its decision be made public.
The commission last month dismissed a similar complaint filed by the Lambda
Legal Defense and Education Fund, a gay rights group based in New York.
"These frivolous complaints are being filed by those who want to
overturn Moore’s election by the people of the state of Alabama," Moore’s
attorney, Stephen Melchior, said in a statement. "He was elected by the
overwhelming majority of Alabamians who agree with Moore that there is a moral
foundation of law, and who believe, like Moore, that a judge’s role is to
report the law, not make the law."
The complaints were filed against Moore last month after he released a
Supreme Court opinion that referred to homosexuality as an "inherent evil
against which children must be protected."
Moore wrote that a woman was an unfit mother because she was homosexual.
"Homosexual conduct is, and has been, considered abhorrent, immoral,
detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature and
of nature’s God upon which this nation and our laws are predicated,"
Moore said in the opinion.
When Holmes filed his complaint in February, he said Moore’s 35-page
opinion concerning homosexuals violated the state judicial ethics canon and
that Moore should be removed from office.
Holmes could not be reached for comment Thursday.
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