Alabama chief justice calls on all 50 governors to enshrine true marriage in the US Constitution
MONTGOMERY, AL, February 7, 2014 – In 2003, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was removed from office after refusing to remove the 10 Commandments from the front of the state's highest court. Now, after winning back his old job, he is back in the spotlight after sending a letter to all 50 governors urging them to enshrine marriage in the U.S. Constitution.
“The time to act is upon us if we mean to preserve the basic foundations of marriage and family upon which our Country rests,” writes Moore.
Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore
He has also called for an Article V Convention, a mechanism in the US Constitution that allows the states to pass constitutional amendments. Thirty-four states would have to agree to the convention and then three-quarters of states, 38 states, would have to ratify amendments proposed by those at the convention. An Article V Convention has not been held since America’s founding.
Currently, 17 states – 34 percent of the 50 states – and the District of Columbia allow same-sex “marriages.”
The letter, which was sent on Wednesday to each governor, drew immediate criticism.
Susan Watson, executive director of the ACLU in Alabama, said that Moore's “definition of marriage as one man-one woman is a religious one,” and that while the Chief Justice “said that government has become oppressive ... this is yet another perfect example of his contributions to the matter.”
Watson also said that the ACLU “support[s] everyone's rights to have their own religious beliefs, but [Moore] is chronically imposing his beliefs on others.”
Moore's convention idea faces potential backlash from both sides of the political spectrum. Despite that, Moore says he believes “a great majority of the American people want to hold to the definition that a marriage is between a man and a woman.”
