WASHINGTON (JTA) — An Alabama chief justice who was removed from his post for placing a monument to the Ten Commandments in his courthouse won the Republican primary in a bid to get back his job.
Roy Moore won slightly more than 50 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s primary, obviating the need for a runoff. He thanked God for the victory.
A panel had removed him in 2003 for disobeying a federal court order to remove the monument. A number of Jewish groups that had strongly opposed the monument supported his removal, in part because Moore had cast the matter so emphatically as a Christian one.
Moore’s critics believed his career as an elected official to be over when he was crushed in 2006 in the GOP gubernatorial primary.
The Montgomery Advertiser quoted him as saying he would not return the monument, but that he backs legislation under consideration that would allow such displays.
"I will always acknowledge God," Moore said, according to the Advertiser.
He now faces Harry Lyon, a lawyer, who is the Democratic nominee.
