The Fascist Union of Conservative Killjoy Evangelical Reactionary Sheep has struck again:
Ala. Judge Wears Ten Commandments on Robe
By BOB JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A judge refused to delay a trial Tuesday when an attorney objected to his wearing a judicial robe with the Ten Commandments embroidered on the front in gold.
Circuit Judge Ashley McKathan showed up Monday at his Covington County courtroom in southern Alabama wearing the robe. Attorneys who try cases at the courthouse said they had not seen him wearing it before. The commandments were described as being big enough to read by anyone near the judge.
Attorney Riley Powell, defending a client charged with DUI, filed a motion objecting to the robe and asking that the case be continued. He said McKathan denied both motions.
"I feel this creates a distraction that affects my client," Powell said.
McKathan told The Associated Press that he believes the Ten Commandments represent the truth "and you can't divorce the law from the truth. ... The Ten Commandments can help a judge know the difference between right and wrong."
He said he doesn't believe the commandments on his robe would have an adverse effect on jurors.
"I had a choice of several sizes of letters. I purposely chose a size that would not be in anybody's face," he said.
The case raised comparisons to former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was removed from office in 2003 for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery.
Moore said Tuesday he supports McKathan's decision to wear the Ten Commandments robe.
"I applaud Judge McKathan. It is time for our judiciary to recognize the moral basis of our law," Moore said.
Powell said if he loses his case, he expects the judge's wearing of the Ten Commandments robe to be part of an appeal.
_________________ cirlces they grow and they swallow people whole half their lives they say goodnight to wives they'll never know got a mind full of questions and a teacher in my soul and so it goes
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:38 pm Posts: 4412 Location: red mosquito
Unless their is a rule against them having writing on thier robes I don't see a problem with this. It seems like more of a freedom of speech issue than a seperation of church and state issue to me.
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 5:21 pm Posts: 362 Location: Red Sox Nation via AZ
tommymctom wrote:
Unless their is a rule against them having writing on thier robes I don't see a problem with this. It seems like more of a freedom of speech issue than a seperation of church and state issue to me.
The only problem I have is that the ten comandments aren't laws, they're morals. As long as this guy knows that, in his position, the law comes first.
_________________ "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
-Hunter S. Thompson
RIP 1937-2005
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:51 pm Posts: 14534 Location: Mesa,AZ
jackironsversion wrote:
tommymctom wrote:
Unless their is a rule against them having writing on thier robes I don't see a problem with this. It seems like more of a freedom of speech issue than a seperation of church and state issue to me.
The only problem I have is that the ten comandments aren't laws, they're morals. As long as this guy knows that, in his position, the law comes first.
Several of those morals are laws, and several more can help someone make a fair decision. The only ones that are irrelevant when it comes to the constitution are the first few (No other Gods before me, no graven images, don't take the name of the lord thy god in vain, keep the sabbath day holy).
_________________
John Adams wrote:
In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.
Unless their is a rule against them having writing on thier robes I don't see a problem with this. It seems like more of a freedom of speech issue than a seperation of church and state issue to me.
i think this sums it up best
and on a side note, i think of tommy every morning i come into work, cause as you enter the office, we have an 8X11 of the pic his avatar comes from
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:46 pm Posts: 9617 Location: Medford, Oregon Gender: Male
Well, if I was a Muslim, and I had a case in front of this guy, I think it would bother me to know that this guy was deciding my fate. He'll end up off the bench just like that other idiot Moore.
_________________ Deep below the dunes I roved Past the rows, past the rows Beside the acacias freshly in bloom I sent men to their doom
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