n a 5-0 decision on Wednesday, the Alabama State Ethics Committee found that controversial Etowah County Judge Roy Moore violated guidelines in connection with a fund set up to finance his legal battles over courtroom religious proselytizing. The vote sends the case to Attorney General Bill Pryor for further action, including possible criminal prosecution.

   Moore has attracted national media attention for his combative religious antics in the courtroom, including a Ten Commandments display and his policy of opening judicial proceedings with a Baptist invocation. In 1995, the judge was sued in an ACLU suit which challenged the courtroom display; another county Judge, Charles Price, ordered Moore to remove the Declaogue plaque or dilute its religious significance by including secular documents such as the Bill of Rights.

   Judge Moore attracted support from then-Governor Fob James who linked the case to other culture wars issues including prayer in public school classrooms. James threatened that he would mobilize the state police and national guard, along with the University of Alabama football team if necessary, to challenge any "federal order." In a brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, James even argued that the Bill of Rights did not apply to individual states, and that Moore's official religiosity deserved legal protections.

   A defense fund was establish to cover Moore's legal expenses in the court fight; the "Save Our Commandments Committee" organized rallies and other events to promote Moore's crusade, and hosted a rally in front of the state capitol building which attracted several thousand demonstrators. Many carried anti-separationist signs, and chants reverberated through the crowd demanding, "Tear Down the Wall " -- a clear reference to the "wall of separation" suggested by Thomas Jefferson. In addition to contributions, Moore supporters raised funds by selling replicas of the stone Ten Commandments.

   Moore's attorney, Stephen Melchior and supporter Dean Young of the Christian Family Association, said that more than $100,000 had been raised. The Ethics Commission found that Moore had spend funds on activities other than his legal defense, though, and exploited the "mantle of his office" to raise monies. If convicted, More could face up to $10,000 in fines and 20 years in prison.

   Part of the evidence allegedly involves a complaint filed in 1997 by a man identified only as J. Lewis; copies were distributed anonymously to the news media.

   According to the Gadsden (Ala.) Times newspaper, James L. Sumner Jr., director of the commission, said that the body found no evidence that Moore had personally stolen any of the defense money, but instead apparently paid out funds "for things other than legal defense."

   Moore immediately went on the offensive, saying that he was "tired of getting harassed ... because I have displayed the Ten Commandments." Mr. Sumner countered by saying, "That's not even the issue that came before the commission."

   Sumner added that the commission did not send the matter to Etowah County DA James Hedgspeth, Jr. since his office would have to argue cases in the future before Judge Moore's bench. But there may be problems with having this case investigated even by the State Attorney General. Pryor refused any comment on the Moore situation, saying only that it would "handle it the way I handle any other referred case."

"Referring the Moore case to Pryor is a joke in view f the fact that he (pryor) once appeared at amassive rally in support of Moore, and his public position that the reason why he became a lawyer in the first place was to fight the ACLU..." -- Carol Faulkenberry

   Carol Faulkenberry, a member of the Alabama Freethought Society that had challenged Moore in the original Ten Commandments suit," warned that "referring the matter to Pryor is a joke in view of the fact that he once appeared at a massive rally in support of Moore, and his public position that the reason why he became a lawyer in the first place was to fight the ACLU." That rally took place on April 12, 1997 and was a double-bill of support for both Judge Moore and Governor Fob James. Co-sponors include Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition, the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, Rutherford Institute, and the American Center for Law and Justice. When Attorney General Pryor stepped up to the microphone, he told the assembled faithful that he had indeed become an attorney to find the "Anti-American Civil Liberties Union," adding "God has chosen through his son Jesus Christ this time, this place for all Christians -- Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox -- to save our country and save our courts."

   Judge Moore addressed the "Tear Down the Wall" crowd, insisting that the wall of separation between church and state was "a misleading metaphor," and demanding "We must, nay we will, have God back in America again."

   "The ACLU began this controversy," Moore thundered. "With God's help, we will finish it."

   Moore's attorney seemed most comfortable with the prospect of having his client's case handled by Attorney General Pryor, who he described as "a fair man" who would "smoke out the truth." Pryor has a number of options in the case, which he could handle administratively -- something which would reduce any penalty to only a $1,000 fine -- or he could decide to send it to a grand jury, or return it to the commission.

   In the meantime, Moore still faces charges which were have been filed against him by the Judicial Inquiry Commission, an investigative arm of the state judiciary.

   "I think it's a travesty," Judge Moore told the Gadsden Times. "I think it's an attempt to stop the message about God and about the First Amendment and I think it is wrong and we're going to fight it with everything we've got."

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