Politics: Note to Judge Moore: Congress Shall Make No Law...

Veteran readers of the Liquid List will recall that I am a frequent citer of that dusty old Constitution. I keep a copy on my desk, an ink and paper version for both home and office use. It's incredibly handy. Especially this part here about how "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..."

Looks like some wiser-than-their-years judges on the Federal Appeals Court for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta have also been marinating their goggles in the Bill o' Rights. It's a wonder, those ten amendments, tell you what. They told grotesque parody of a fair judge Roy Moore, Alabama's chief judge, that he can take his 3-ton granite ten commandments and shove them. They did so in extraordinary language:

The appeals court compared Chief Justice Moore to "those Southern governors who attempted to defy federal court orders during an earlier era," likening him to such state's rights proponents of segregation as Govs. George C. Wallace of Alabama and Ross Barnett of Mississippi.
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"Any notion of high government officials being above the law did not save those governors from having to obey federal court orders," Judge Ed Carnes wrote for the appeals court, "and it will not save this chief justice from having to comply with the court order in this case."
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"Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox faiths use different parts of their holy texts as the authoritative Ten Commandments," the court said. "The point is that choosing which version of the Ten Commandments to display can have religious endorsement implications."

The appeals court made clear that it will not brook disobedience from Chief Justice Moore if its order is upheld. "We do expect that if he is unable to have the district court's order overturned through the usual appellate processes," Judge Carnes wrote, "when the time comes Chief Justice Moore will obey that order. If necessary, the court order will be enforced. The rule of law will prevail."

I've got to say, maybe it's our late-blooming summer, but I haven't seen so many fiesty federal judges in a while. Whatever is bringing about this sudden bout of attention to the Constitution, I applaud it. More! More!