Time: Sun Apr 13 06:45:20 1997
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Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 06:41:49 -0700
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From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: Thousands Rally Against Alabama Supreme Court
[This text is formatted in Courier 11, non-proportional spacing.]
Thousands Rally Against Supreme Court in Alabama
April 13, 1997
1:58 a.m. EST (0658 GMT)
MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- Thousands of people, including two of
Alabama's highest elected officials, protested the separation of
church and state at the state Capitol Saturday, condemning the
Supreme Court for keeping religion out of public schools,
courtrooms and other government venues.
At a three-hour rally, Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed,
Alabama Gov. Fob James and state Attorney General Bill Pryor
pledged their support for a state judge who has come under fire
in recent months for praying in court and displaying the 10
Commandments on the wall behind his bench.
While the rally's invective was aimed mainly at the Supreme Court
and the American Civil Liberties Union, its rhetoric at times
veered into a condemnation of legal abortion and gay people.
"The greatest domestic need in the American political system
today is a U.S. president who would refuse to enforce U.S.
Supreme Court decisions based on judicial fraud ... and a U.S.
Congress to impeach judges for subverting the Constitution,"
James told the cheering crowd, estimated by police at between
20,000 and 25,000 people.
The "Save the Commandments" rally was sponsored by 37 national
and state religious organizations as a means of generating
support for Etowah County Circuit Judge Roy Moore, who has been
battling with the ACLU for two years.
The ACLU sued in federal court in 1995 to stop Moore from opening
his court with prayer and to make him remove a hand-carved tablet
bearing the 10 Commandments from his Anniston courtroom, 150
miles away.
The federal suit was thrown out on a technicality, but a
Montgomery County circuit judge later decided against Moore in
two separate rulings. Both rulings have since been stayed by the
Alabama Supreme Court pending appeals by the state.
"You do not stand alone," declared Reed, whose Christian
Coalition claims 2.5 million members nationwide. "As long as
there's breath in our bodies, the 10 Commandments will never come
down from this courtroom."
Pryor, who argued Moore's case while still a deputy attorney
general, condemned the 1973 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision
that legalized abortion, telling his audience that he became a
lawyer to fight the ACLU.
"God has chosen, through his son Jesus Christ, this time and this
place for all Christians ... to save our country and save our
courts," he announced.
One member of the crowd waved a homemade placard inviting
renowned civil rights attorney Morris Dees, the state ACLU
president and newly out-of-the-closet television actress Ellen
Degeneres to "Burn In Hell."
# # #
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Paul Andrew, Mitchell, B.A., M.S. : Counselor at Law, federal witness
email: [address in tool bar] : Eudora Pro 3.0.1 on Intel 586 CPU
web site: http://www.supremelaw.com : library & law school registration
ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best
Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone
Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this
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