Chief Justice fight shouldn#039;t cost taxpayers
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore continues his fiery rhetoric about the removal of the Ten Commandments monument he placed in the state's judicial building in the middle of night over two years ago.
The attorneys who sued Moore to have it removed continue their own fiery rhetoric and on Thursday, according a report in the Montgomery Advertiser, both parties' rhetoric began to tick off the cost of this battle.
All told, some $830,000 was spent on this fight, and now those legal eagles involved want their money.
Moore claims he shouldn't have to pay it because he is the chief justice.
The plaintiffs claim he should because it's his fault the costs were incurred.
However, at the end of the day, who do you honestly believe will pay for this legal brouhaha?
The State of Alabama will pay it.
This in turn means that we, the taxpayers, will foot this bill, and we have to question why?
Moore can be described as a belligerent child who either gets his way or else.
Did anyone ask him to do this?
Not to our knowledge and with that said, Moore should be responsible for his own legal bills.
He has spent the last few weeks traveling all over the country using this issue as his bully pulpit and we're certain all those speaking engagements were not for free.
His opponents in this case should take the high road and write off the costs because they can say when the rule of law came down, it landed on their side.
Their pay should be the satisfaction that the Constitution does indeed work, and they won.
Luckily, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a blow to Moore this week when it announced it would not hear his case.
That alone should send the message that this issue is over and done with from a legal aspect.
Maybe, if Moore or his opponents insist on the state paying the fees, the state should in turn charge him for two years of back rent for the space the monument held then and its present location.
With property values as high as they are in Montgomery, the state could easily charge Moore $832,000 for rent.
One way or the other, its time for our state to face more pressing issues, such as how many teachers are we losing due to no funding, how many state troopers are only working four days a week and how many convicts are out and about.
Those are the issues at hand, and its very likely, that the court didn't take God out of the judicial building, hopefully, the Almighty was busy with more important things other than the squabbles of one man.
This was Roy Moore's battle, and being such, the taxpayers of Alabama should not be expected to pay for it.