MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The pro-LGBT group, Human Rights Campaign Alabama, is reportedly delivering petitions with the signatures of 28,000 same-sex marriage activists to the Judicial Inquiry Commission in an attempt to oust Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore.
The group collected the signatures in support of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s effort to bring ethics charges against Chief Justice Moore for his vocal support of traditional marriage.
“I find Alabama Chief Justice Roy S. Moore’s recent public statements on refusing to adhere to the federal court’s decision on same-sex marriage bans appalling, unethical, and blatantly discriminatory,” HRC Alabama’s petition reads. “By continuing to recognize Alabama’s unconstitutional same-sex marriage ban, Chief Justice Moore has done a disservice to the American judicial system and the people of Alabama.”
HRC Alabama delivered the petitions to the Judicial Inquiry Commission of Alabama—the same body that removed Chief Justice Moore from office in 2003 following his refusal to remove a 10 commandments monument from the Alabama Supreme Court building in a lawsuit initiated by the SPLC—Wednesday morning at 11.
“Justice Roy Moore’s actions have been appalling, unethical, and blatantly discriminatory. He must be held accountable for the judicial chaos he created and the wanton disregard he has shown for the constitutional rights of LGBT Alabamians,” R. Ashley Jackson, Director of HRC Alabama, said in a press release.
In addition to asking petitioners to include their names, email, and ZIP code, HRC Alabama’s petition also gave the option to share their gender (male, female, genderqueer, intersex, or other), sexual orientation (bisexual, gay, lesbian, other, queer, straight/heterosexual), and whether or not they identify as transgender.
Chief Justice Roy Moore, on the other hand, remains defiant of HRC Alabama, the SPLC, and the federal judge who made the original ruling, and there is more than one legal scholar who agrees with him.
In a New York Times article last week, Yale Law School senior research fellow Emily Bazelon and University of California at Irvine law professor Rick Hasen argued that Moore’s interpretation of the law and unwillingness to bend to the will of the federal judge are actually legally correct.
The US Supreme Court will be the final arbiter of whether or not state same-sex marriage bans are constitutional. A ruling is expected in June.
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
