September 2, 2003

JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST: Welcome back to Scarborough Country. It's now time for a Scarborough Country follow-up. It's been one week since the Ten Commandments monument was removed from public view at the Alabama state Judicial Building, but the fight's not over, though. The man at the center of it all, Judge Roy Moore, is sticking to his guns, and he's pushing to get the monument back into public view. With me now, Judge Roy Moore. He's with me from New York.

Judge Moore, thank you so much for being with us tonight.

MOORE: It's nice to be with you, Joe.

SCARBOROUGH: Certainly good to see you again.

MOORE: Well, my pleasure.

SCARBOROUGH: Has your fight to display the Ten Commandments been worth you personally being removed from the bench, and facing the type of pressure that you've been facing over the past week?

MOORE: Of course, Joe, nobody likes to face the pressure, nobody likes to be removed from the bench or disqualified from acting as a judge, but this issue must go before the United States Supreme Court, and that's where we intend to take it. In about a couple of weeks, we'll file a petition for a writ of certiorari at the United States Supreme Court because it's a very important issue. They're violating our state's rights, they're doing something that's absolutely wrong and unlawful.

SCARBOROUGH: Well, Justice Moore, do you think the Supreme Court is going to change their mind and decide they want to hear your case?

MOORE: Well, they haven't refused to hear the case. All that was before them was a stay of an injunction, the withdrawal of a mandate of the 11th Circuit. They have not even approached the merits of this case as of yet, and that's to come up in the future, so we expect they will--because it's something that needs to go to court.

SCARBOROUGH: Judge, I would expect that your critics that are watching you right now would say, "What would Judge Moore say if a Muslim group wanted to put the Koran up at the Alabama state rotunda?" What would your response to that charge be?

MOORE: Of course, the rotunda of any state is under the . . . of any judicial building, and specifically in Alabama, is under the judge of that court. It's not just anybody who can come into the court and put up whatever they would want. But even if it were under someone that would put up a Koran or whatever, it wouldn't represent the foundations of this country, but likewise it wouldn't be an establishment of religion under the First Amendment. So, therefore, it couldn't be prohibited by the First Amendment.

You see, the First Amendment is the rule of law. It's not what a judge says, it's not just some order he makes. If that were true, then slavery would still be legal and slavery would still be a law.

Judges, just like executives and legislators, are all bound by the same constitution. And when a federal district judge says he doesn't even know the words of the statute, what they mean, and in fact says that he thinks it's dangerous to define those words, he is ruling lawlessly, and it's our obligation to resist that.

SCARBOROUGH: Judge, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan had this to say about the Ten Commandments battle at today's press briefing. Take a listen.

[START CLIP]

SCOTT MCCLELLAN: One, we need to respect our laws. Two, the courts have ruled that in certain circumstances it is OK to display the Ten Commandments, and in other circumstances the courts have ruled that it's not OK. But the president believes that we must respect our laws. There is an appeals process that can be followed if you disagree with those rulings, and that's where things are.

[END CLIP]

SCARBOROUGH: Now, Justice Moore, as you know, there are a lot of conservatives out there who support your cause--including Jerry Falwell--but believe you made a mistake by not following the federal court ruling. How do you respond to their criticisms of you that you must follow the law of the land?

MOORE: Well, it's what the spokesman said: some cases, they've ruled it's OK, some cases, they've ruled it's not. They're not following the rule of law. The rule of law is the First Amendment. And in this case, the judge said he didn't even know what the words meant. Therefore, he cannot rule or interpret law.

Judges don't make law. Judges are bound by the same law that executives and legislators are bound by: it's the Constitution. And indeed, in Alabama, we're sworn to uphold the Constitution of Alabama, which acknowledges the foundation of our justice system to being invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God. For a judge to tell me, who is--I am the chief administrative officer of the justice system. To tell me that I can't acknowledge God is to tell me that I can't do my duty, and that I must disobey my oath or obey his rule. And it's a lawless rule. It's against the Constitution. He has no jurisdiction in Alabama to tell us that we can't acknowledge God. If they could do that, then they could tell the Supreme Court they couldn't acknowledge God, or we couldn't acknowledge God on our money. Indeed, it's wrong.

SCARBOROUGH: All right. Thank you so much. Justice Roy Moore, we appreciate you being with us tonight.