Although a push to remove Ala. Governor Robert Bentley comes from fellow elected Republicans, the state GOP is steadfastly opposed to judicial efforts to oust Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.
The Alabama Republican State Executive Committee passed a resolution last week to voice its objection to efforts by the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission to remove Moore from his post as Alabama's top jurist.
Alabama GOP Chairwoman Terry Lathan, in Russellville last week, said attempts to remove Moore, who was elected by Alabama voters after previously being removed from office, were politically motivated.
Lathan distinguished efforts in the Alabama Legislature to impeach Bentley from Moore's prosecution.
“That process would include elected officials beholden to the citizens who voted for them, not appointed members of the judiciary,” Lathan said.
The Judicial Inquiry Commission forwarded the matter for prosecution to the Alabama Court of the Judiciary last month. On Thursday, the JIC hired former U.S. Magistrate John Carroll to prosecute Moore on allegations that he violated judicial ethics in his public opposition to same-sex marriage. Carroll is a former director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the group that filed the complaint against Moore earlier this year.
“I see a conflict there as he once worked as director for the Southern Poverty Law Center and they filed the complaint against Judge Moore. It would certainly seem to be a conflict to me,” Lathan said.
The Liberty Council, the legal group representing Moore in his ethics charges, sued the Judicial Inquiry Commission last week in federal court asking for his immediate reinstatement to office.
Moore has been suspended with pay since early May when the ethics complaint was filed.
The full text of Resolution No. 2016-13, passed by the Alabama Republican State Executive Committee, is as follows:
WHEREAS, Chief Justice Roy Moore was elected by the voters of the State of Alabama;
WHEREAS, Chief Justice Roy Moore has been a consistent proponent of our pro-life and traditional marriage values, which are the positions of the Alabama Republican Party, and
WHEREAS, we believe that any statewide elected official should only be impeached and subsequently removed from office by the elected legislature,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY the Alabama Republican Party that we call on the Court of the Judiciary to drop the politically motivated charges against Chief Justice Roy Moore, and
THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED BY the Alabama Republican Party that we call on the legislature to pass legal changes that would prevent the political removal of statewide elected officials, unless done so by the elected legislature of this state.
Adopted, this the 21st day of May, in the Year of Our Lord 2016, by the State Executive Committee of the Alabama Republican Party.
