Twice-suspended former Alabama Chief Justice Moore wins GOP Senate primary
Roy Moore.
Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was suspended from the bench twice, won a primary runoff for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday night.
Moore defeated Sen. Luther Strange, who replaced Jeff Sessions when he became attorney general, report the New York Times, Politico and the Washington Post. Moore had 55 percent of the vote with 95 percent of the precincts reporting, according to Politico.
Moore believes “God’s law” can invalidate federal court decisions, according to the Post. In a 2002 legal opinion, he called gay conduct “an inherent evil.” During the campaign, he advocated impeaching judges and possibly U.S. Supreme Court justices who have ruled for gay rights.
Moore was twice removed from the state supreme court for the rest of his term. The first time was in 2003 for refusing to obey court orders to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the courthouse. The second time was in 2016 for telling state probate judges they had a duty to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
In his victory speech, Moore said he supported President Donald Trump, even though the president had backed Strange. Moore’s opponent in December’s general election is former federal prosecutor Doug Jones.
“We have to return the knowledge of God and the Constitution of the United States to the United States Congress,” Moore said in his speech. “We have become a nation that has distanced ourselves from the very foundation.”
In his concession speech, Strange said the current political environment is different than anything he has experienced.
“The political seas, the political winds in this country right now are very hard to navigate,” he said. “They’re very hard to understand.”
