n what could prove to be a pivotal case in First Amendment jurisprudence, a suit over the display of the Ten Commandments in the Alabama Judicial Building is now in the hands of a U.S. District Court Judge.

   At issue is whether the state's Chief Justice, the controversial Roy Moore, exceeded his authority and violated the separation of church and state when he surreptitiously ordered the placement of a two-ton granite monument to the Ten Commandments in the building's rotunda foyer.

   Moore, a fundamentalist Christian who attracted media coverage and controversy for displaying a Commandments plaque over his dais when he served as a judge in Etowah County, Alabama, said that the move was proper since he was the "leaseholder." He also dismissed concerns that he violated the First Amendment, saying that the Commandments represented the basis of American law and that the history of the nation was closely intertwined with religious belief and symbols.

   Moore first came to national attention when he refused to remove the hand-carved plaque representing the Commandments from his courtroom in Etowah County. A 1994 lawsuit challenged the display. At the time, Moore reportedly informed friends -- and later admitted to the press -- that the plaque was simply a way of embellishing the bare wall of the chamber.

   "Actually, when I put the Ten Commandments up in Etowah County, I was decorating my courtroom," Moore told the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper. "I had it up in my office. It was something I believed in and I saw nothing wrong with it..."

   There were other constitutionally suspect practices in Etowah County at the time, such as opening jury sessions with prayer. The ritual continues to this day, and was common even before Moore sat on the bench. On behalf of the Alabama Freethought Association, the ACLU filed suit against the Commandments plaque, an event which triggered a change in Moore. The jurist became more outspoken in his defense of both the display and public religion. He also initiated a legal counter-attack, researching English law and arcane texts in order to justify his placement of the Commandments in a secular environment. A close friend noted that Moore "studied old law texts that everybody else had forgotten about."

   While religion had played an important role in Moore's hardscrabble background, it wasn't until he entered politics that he began positioning himself as a defender of godly virtue and public morality.

   He was born in 1947 to an impoverished family in Gadsden, Alabama, the first of three boys and two girls. "The family lived together in small houses with no indoor plumbing," noted a sketch of Moore in the Advertiser. "When the elder Moore was between jobs, it was a scramble to survive." During high school, the future judge worked in the school cafeteria and a local grocery store. He exhibited few of the rebellious signs of his generation, though, and was described as a "dutiful, respectful son" who obeyed his parents and earned high marks in school. His mother added that Moore was "a good boy and a religious boy ever since he was little."

   Though raised a Baptist, the family was "just a typical go-to-church-on Sunday" type.

   Moore graduated from high school in 1965, and earned a commission to West Point. It was a way out of poverty, and he took his degree in 1970 ranking 640th out of a class of 800. Commissioned a second lieutenant, he served in Germany and then Vietnam where he commanded a military police unit. In 1977 after returning home, he entered the University of Alabama law school, and upon graduation moved back to Gadsden to enter private practice.

   "At the Etowah County Courthouse, some of those who worked with Moore roll their eyes when asked about him but keep their mouths shut," noted Todd Kleffman of the Advertiser. "There are plenty of stories to tell, the longtime secretaries, parole officials and lawyers said, but not on the record and not now, while Moore sits atop the state court system and controls its purse string."

   Moore soon transferred to the district attorney's office, then quit the post to enter a combative and unsuccessful race for circuit judge. Part of his campaign involved charges of graft and corruption. "In reality," notes Kleffman, "a defense attorney had asked a judge to delay ruling on a case until his client paid him."

   "Roy Moore though everyone was corrupt except him," declared prosecutor Jimmy Hedgspeth.

   The loss came as a blow to Moore, who suddenly left the practice of law and took off to spend a year as an authentic cowboy in the Australian outback. He then moved to Texas to study kick-boxing and even became a professional contender. In 1986, though, he was back in Etowah County running unsuccessfully again for prosecutor. From there he resumed private practice, and in 1980 hung the first of his hand carved Commandments plaques in his law chambers.

   Public office eluded Moore until 1992 when Judge Julius Swan died, and the Republican Gov. Guy Hunt chose Moore as a replacement. Two years later, he successfully ran as the GOP incumbent for circuit judge.

   "It was during the race that the Ten Commandments -- and Moore's strong religious convictions -- first surfaced in public," wrote Kleffman. "Opinions diverged about whether Moore used those issues as a calculated gambit to win his first election."

   The religious rhetoric also came into play when plaintiff attorneys began looking into Moore's courtroom prayer ritual which often involved local Baptist clergy. ACLU legal counsel Joel Sogol noted, "Moore immediately called a press conference and announced that he was being persecuted for his religious beliefs. This was before we even knew about the Ten Commandments (plaque), well before the first lawsuit was ever filed."

   When he openly defied a court order to either remove or "secularize" his Commandments display by adding other historical documents, Moore suddenly discovered a potential constituency reaching far beyond the borders of Etowah County.

   Groups ranging from the Christian Coalition to the American Family Association announced their support for Moore's struggle to maintain a close symbolic link between the Commandments and government. James Dobson, radio family values guru and head of the Focus on the Family organization constantly urged members to contribute to Moore's legal defense. Gary Schneeberger, editor of the FOF publication "Citizen," said, "He's not just some figurehead for a movement. He's a legal scholar, a constitutional scholar and a biblical scholar who knows his stuff."

   Moore promised to carry his defense of the Commandments all the way to the state capitol in Montgomery and beyond. When he won election as the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in the year 2000 elections, supporters eagerly anticipated the fulfillment of that pledge. And Moore dutifully complied.

   In August, 2001, Moore stunned observers -- and delighted his growing flock of backers -- by ordering the stealth placement of a 5,280 pound granite monument of the Commandments in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building.

   The move was described as "smug," "brazen," and highly secretive, especially since only religious media and a handful of Moore cronies were given advanced notice. Not even the state's other Supreme Court Justices were consulted. Moore justified the move as a proper exercise of his authority as "leaseholder" of the facility.

   "The monument serves to remind the appellate courts and judges of the circuit and district courts of this state and members of the bar who appear before them as well as the people of Alabama who visit the Alabama Judicial Building of the truth stated in the preamble of the Alabama Constitution that in order to establish justice, we must invoke 'the favor and guidance of Almighty God, ' " Moore told reporters.

   The move didn't sit well with a number of critics, including American Atheists State Director Larry Darby.

   "He's way off the mark," Darby said. "Moore should remember Section 3 of the State Constitution which declares: 'That no religioun shall be established by law; that no preference shall be given by law to any religious sect, society, denomination, or mode of worship; that no one shall be compelled by law to attend any place of worship; nor to pay any tithes, taxes or other rate for building or repairing any place of worship, or for maintaining any minister or ministry...' "

   The granite monument, which had been paid for with private funds, soon became the locus of controversy. Black lawmakers demanded a comparable memorial to the late Dr. Martin Luther King, but were refused. Darby and local Atheists wanted a monument of their own featuring the atomic whirl, a symbol of Atheism and materialist philosophy. Moore nixed that idea as well. Protests, threats of litigation and eventually a lawsuit followed.

   D. James Kennedy, a televangelist known for a strident anti-gay and fundamentalist religious stance, threw the support of his Coral Ridge Ministry behind Moore and even entered into an exclusive video deal with the embattled judge. Kennedy's organization raised over $125,000 for Moore's legal defense, with part of the money generated by sales of a video documenting the stealth placement of the Commandments monolith.

   "We have a long standing relation (with Justice Moore)," gushed Kennedy.

   Moore's exploitation of the state's highest judicial post for religious proselytizing was quickly challenged in court by public interest groups including the Southern Poverty Law Center, ACLU and Americans United. Critics of the chief justice, though, noted that the Commandments were not the only focus of concern. Reporters complained that Moore had essentially isolated himself from the state's news media. He also raised eyebrows when he issued an opinion in a child custody case where he condemned a lesbian mom, and described homosexuality as "an inherent evil." There were questions, too, of fiscal accountability inside the judicial system, and Moore's controversial decision to shut down the courts until Gov. Don Siegelman found another $500,000 for operating expenses.

   It has been issues of public religion and the separation of church and state which have predominated in the recent two week trial. Moore has defended the Commandments display as emblematic of the foundation for western civilization and morality. Even his co-religionists, though, express doubts, and separationists question the probity of the state's highest official whose salary depends on taxpayer largesse promoting sectarian religion.

   "Back in 1995, I asked him (Justice Moore) if he thought the Ten Commandments could represent good societal rules to live by outside of a religious context," said D'Linell Finley, professor of political science at Auburn University. "He said he wanted them to express his personal religious beliefs and I knew that was going to get him into trouble.

   "I have no doubt that he is a man of faith and has a right to that faith. I have doubts about whether a demonstration of that faith to the exclusion of other faiths is appropriate for the courtroom."

   Moore repeatedly underscored the centrality of the Commandments during his trial testimony. "I feel very strongly that the monument represents the moral foundation of law, which is greatly needed in our country today," he told the court. When questioned by Morris Dees of the SPLC, Moore insisted that the commandments were revealed law from a god, and when asked: "Your purpose with the monument is to restore God's position as the ultimate authority in the land?" the Chief Justice replied without hesitation, "Yes."

   U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson engaged Moore with a discussion of the role of a deity and civil society.

   "What you're telling me and others is that we have a separation of church and state, but not a separation of God and state?" queried Thompson.

   "Right," Moore responded.

   "God himself is over both (church and state)?" asked Thompson.

   "Right," declared Moore.

   Moore also made clear his thoughts on the "God" of the commandments possibly being a nonsectarian deity, thus avoiding the constitutional issue of deliberately promoting one religion over another. In an exchange over the nature of God and the state, Judge Thompson asked that if the state and church fall under the authority of Moore's God, "You really couldn't have the state unless you have God?"

   "Right," Moore responded. "That God. Who that God is so important (sic). It's the God of the Holy Scriptures."

   Thompson: 'When you refer to 'that God,' you mean the Judeo-Christian God?"

   "Yes," replied the chief justice, "the God that both the Jews and Christians worship."

   State Director and attorney Larry Darby found Moore's testimony confusing and even misleading.

   "Moore kept referring to a trilogy in the relationship between church and state," Darby told AANEWS. "God is at the top of this trilogy or triangle. The church is the left corner of the triangle, represented by the first tablet of the Ten Commandments and the state is in the right corner."

   Darby also said that Moore's use of the phrase "Judeo-Christian" was an attempt to mislead and include Jews as being in mind during the formulation of the First Amendment. "But Moore really thinks that the Founding Fathers only recognized the Christian god as the ruler of the universe."

   A ruling in the Moore case is expected by November 8.

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