oy Moore, the controversial Ten Commandments crusader, has been suspended from his position as Alabama's Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

   News wires lit up about an hour ago after word that the state's legal ethics commission would act on a complaint filed last week by Stephen Glassroth, an attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center. Glassroth was on the legal team which challenged Moore's placement of a two-and-a-half ton monument of the Ten Commandments in the foyer of the Judicial Building.

   A federal judge ruled that the display violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

   The monument is still in the building, surrounded by a contingent of self-described "prayer warriors" who pledge to engage in civil disobedience if state authorities attempt to move it.

   Reports that Moore would be suspended circulated throughout the day. Dean Young, executive director of the Alabama Christian Family Association, told reporters that the Judicial Inquiry Commission probe would "be making Judge Moore into a martyr." He described the investigation as "a witch hunt."

   But SPLC attorney Richard Cohen disagreed.

   "Nothing could be more contrary to the canon of ethics than for a Supreme Court justice to say that he was going to defy a federal court order.

   John Giles, head of Alabama's Christian Coalition, reportedly launched an effort earlier today to persuade commissioners to keep Moore on the bench. In a member action alert titled "Please Act Today!," CC supporters were asked to flood the Judicial Inquiry Commission offices with phone calls supporting the embattled judge. A woman answering phones at the JIC told reporters for the Birmingham Post-Herald that "about 400 calls" had been received.

   Giles added that he wants the details of any commission vote made public. News wire service reports say that Moore "was automatically suspended with pay," when the JIC referred the complaint to the Court of the Judiciary which conducts proceedings and can discipline and remove any state judges, including Moore.

   ¶       Moore supporters have organized what they describe as a "Minuteman Alert" system, says Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition. He estimate that "over 400 people" were on various lists and could be mobilized on short notice when authorities move to take down the unconstitutional Commandments display.

   ¶       Alabama Attorney General William Pryor has been a strong supporter of Justice Moore is, at least in public, trying to quickly distance himself from the fracas over the display. Pryor has declared that the state must follow any federal order to remove the monument. But on network news program this evening, Pryor seemed to go to considerable lengths to emphasize the "difficulties" of moving the washing machine-size granite rock from its present location.

   "It would crack the floor if it were placed somewhere else," said Pryor.

   But the monument was originally positioned in the foyer of the Judicial Building by Moore and a small crew of workers after of the close of business during the evening of July 31, 2001. According to the original complaint challenging the monument, Moore said this was done at night "to avoid interrupting the normal business of the building." The installation was filmed by a video crew from Coral Ridge Ministries, an evangelical group based in Florida and led by preacher D. James Kennedy.

   A voice-over on one network program said that removal of the Commandments display "could take as much as a week or more."

   ¶       Attorneys for plaintiffs opposing the Ten Commandments display announced that they would not seek to have Justice Moore held in contempt for refusing to obey the federal order. They also reportedly agreed that the monument would be moved by next week. Judge Myron Thompson announced that he would call another conference bringing the two sides in the dispute together next week as well.

[text only]