Top Stories of 2003: Protestors Pray as Ten Commandments Monument Moved
by Jody Brown and Allie Martin
December 29, 2003
(AgapePress) - The Ten Commandments Monument has been moved from the rotunda of the judicial building in Montgomery, Alabama.Around 9:00 a.m. Central time today, the monument was hauled away on a dolly by a Georgia moving company amidst screams of "Put it back!" and "Get your hands off our God, God haters!" Those uttering such expressions were reportedly urged to remain calm by fellow protestors.
Associated Press reports that workers spent much of the morning figuring out how to lift the two-and-a-half-ton granite monument -- and that an official with one of the groups protesting against the move has been told the monument will be placed in another location in the building. It is unclear at this time if that location will be accessible to the public.
As the monument was being removed, dozens of protesters continued their vigil on the steps outside the Alabama judicial building, kneeling in prayer. Protest organizers asked those outside the building not to rush the building, but only to pray.
According to AP, a hearing had been scheduled for Wednesday afternoon by a federal judge in Mobile, Alabama, on a lawsuit filed in hopes of keeping the monument in the rotunda. That hearing has now been canceled.
Federal Courts Have No Jurisdiction Over State Courts
A former Louisiana judge says the battle over the public display of the Ten Commandments monument in Montgomery will affect Christians nationwide. He says from a legal standpoint, the battle is a pivotal one in the culture war.
For 20 years, Darrell White was a judge on the Baton Rouge City Court. He is now co-director for the Louisiana Family Forum, an organization that seeks to strengthen the traditional family. Judge White says although Christians may be split on the methods employed by Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore on behalf of the public display of the Ten Commandments, the battle has brought to light what many say is a runaway federal court system.
"It's absolutely critical over the issue of whether or not it's going to be 'We the people' or 'They the judges' -- 'they' being the federal judges in particular," White explains. "The Word of God says 'My people perish for lack of knowledge' -- we need to dust off our Constitution and understand that we, the people, were given rights under that Constitution to deal with a runaway judiciary. In particular, Article 3 of the Constitution -- the Judicial Article -- provides that the Congress has the authority to limit the jurisdiction of the federal courts."
White says it is important to remember that federal courts have no jurisdiction over state courts. He recalls an incident while he was on the local bench that he says shows the separation between federal and state powers. He says he was once contacted by a federal judge who was not interested in talking about the Constitution or his caseload, but about a traffic ticket the federal judge had received.
"Now why do you imagine this powerful federal judge was calling me, a city judge, to talk about his traffic ticket?" White asks. "It's because he lacked jurisdiction to do anything about it himself -- and that point needs to be recaptured by the American public."
Meanwhile, Alabama's attorney general is being urged to resign by fellow Christians who believe he has betrayed them by obeying a court order that the monument be removed. Seven defenders of the Ten Commandments monument met yesterday with Attorney General Bill Pryor's deputy while scores of others waited outside the Alabama Statehouse, chanting for Pryor to resign.
Pryor has stated that he believes the Ten Commandments monument belongs in the building's rotunda -- but also that he has a duty to obey federal court orders.
