Roy Moore's revolving door

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Roy Moore's revolving door

Postby cmsellers » Sat May 07, 2016 6:04 am

Back near the start of what was for most of us the third millennium, the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court Roy Moore stuck the Ten Commandments in the middle of the Courthouse and refused to remove it, leading to his removal from office in 2003.

The people of Alabama refused to countenance this, and elected him Chief Justice again in 2011. He was therefore Chief Justice of Alabama when the Supreme Court ruled that gay people should be able to have families too, and expressed his outrage at the ruling by ordering Alabama's lower courts to defy the US Supreme Court on marriage equality.

As a result, he is now facing removal from office again on ethics charges.

Given that ordering lower courts to defy the Supreme Court is clearly illegal, I fully respect him to be removed from office again. I also expect Alabama's voter will elect him Chief Justice yet again, handily demonstrating both why judicial elections are a terrible idea and also why it's OK to make fun of Alabama.
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Re: Roy Moore's revolving door

Postby blehblah » Sat May 07, 2016 1:56 pm

In his order, he argued that the Supreme Court’s decision applied only to the four states involved in the case that was before the court, and not to Alabama. That view runs counter to that of the federal district and appellate courts with jurisdiction over Alabama, and, according to the formal complaint, is “contrary to clear and determined law about which there is no confusion or unsettled question.”


He's really going with the, "You didn't specifically say..." line of reasoning? I expect that from five year-olds.

But then, in all fairness,

As a result of the charges, Chief Justice Moore, 69


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Re: Roy Moore's revolving door

Postby Cordslash » Sat May 07, 2016 1:56 pm

I don't understand the wisdom of electing judges. In South Africa judges are appointed by the Judicial Service Commission, an independent body largely consisting of retired judges and representatives of the Ministry of Justice and office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

This seems to be a logical approach because prospective judges can be grilled on their knowledge of the law etc. by a panel who know the law well.

A judge is a hugely responsible position and shouldn't be decided on with a popularity contest.
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Re: Roy Moore's revolving door

Postby Windy » Sat May 07, 2016 2:50 pm

Moral of the story: Democracy is bad.
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Re: Roy Moore's revolving door

Postby Absentia » Sat May 07, 2016 3:13 pm

Cordslash wrote:A judge is a hugely responsible position and shouldn't be decided on with a popularity contest.


I don't disagree, but you can make exactly the same argument about why we shouldn't elect legislators or executives either.

The difference is that those other positions are supposed to represent the will of the people, while the judiciary represents the rule of law. Popular election of judges removes one of the most important checks and balances.
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Re: Roy Moore's revolving door

Postby Windy » Sat May 07, 2016 3:15 pm

Any system that exists becomes corrupt given enough time. No amount of checks and balances will stop it from happening.
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Re: Roy Moore's revolving door

Postby Taluun » Sat May 07, 2016 3:24 pm

Windy wrote:Any system that exists becomes corrupt given enough time. No amount of checks and balances will stop it from happening.


That doesn't mean we shouldn't take steps to reduce corruption or prolong it from getting even worse.
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Re: Roy Moore's revolving door

Postby cmsellers » Sat May 07, 2016 4:18 pm

blehblah wrote:
As a result of the charges, Chief Justice Moore, 69

We lose Terry Pratchett and David Bowie at 69 and get stuck with Roy Moore?

This suggests to me that God is real, has good taste, and is a selfish git.
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Re: Roy Moore's revolving door

Postby blehblah » Sat May 07, 2016 6:22 pm

Windy wrote:Any system that exists becomes corrupt given enough time. No amount of checks and balances will stop it from happening.


Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.

http://www.murphys-laws.com/murphy/murphy-laws.html

It's also known, roughly, as the second law of thermodynamics.

More recently, I have heard it expressed as, "Doing stuff is hard".
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Re: Roy Moore's revolving door

Postby NathanLoiselle » Sat May 07, 2016 6:59 pm

Doing stuff IS hard!
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Re: Roy Moore's revolving door

Postby cmsellers » Sun Sep 03, 2017 6:26 am

So, Roy Moore is back again. This time, he came in first in the first stage of the Alabama Republican primary for the Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions and looks likely to beat the incumbent in the runoff, despite his opponent being endorsed by both Trump and the whole GOP establishment.

In some ways this is fitting: Jeff Sessions was also unqualified to be a judge and so Alabama inflicted him on the nation as a Senator instead. On the other hand: Jesus fucking Christ!

Avi made a joke about the no-name Democrat running against Moore winning the general, and it reminded me of a similar situation in 2009. To replace Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts, Martha Coakley had won the Democratic primary, a combination of name recognition, endorsement by the Kennedy family, and being the only woman in the field. Coakley, like Moore, had a terrible sense of professional ethics, though not to the point she was removed from office for it, much less twice. Massachusetts was almost as blue as Alabama is red, and while we'll elect Republican governors, we elect a veto-proof Democratic majority in our legislature; surely we wouldn't elect a Republican senator. But we did, because Coakley was awful and ultimately enough people turned against her to elect a moderate member of the opposing party.

I can't imagine Alabama doing the same thing for an even worse candidate; to the contrary, they admire him for his breeches of professional ethics. I'd say that this is why Alabama deserves to be the butt of all the jokes, and Alabamans would inevitably retort that with an attitude like that it's no wonder Real America elected Trump. But seriously, this is absolutely appalling. And our only hope is that Trump's preferred candidate somehow manages to win a primary where all polls have him behind.
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Re: Roy Moore's revolving door

Postby IamNotCreepy » Tue Sep 05, 2017 3:36 pm

cmsellers wrote:I can't imagine Alabama doing the same thing for an even worse candidate; to the contrary, they admire him for his breeches of professional ethics.


Image

To be fair, he would look pretty good in these.
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Re: Roy Moore's revolving door

Postby tinyrick » Tue Sep 05, 2017 7:48 pm

In Alabama, it's spelled britches.
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Re: Roy Moore's revolving door

Postby cmsellers » Tue Sep 05, 2017 11:14 pm

I made that mistake on Discord too and then edited it, so I have no excuse for making it a second time and not catching it.

However you have no excuse for posting the bottoms of so many slaternly women; see this is what Roy Moore is trying to prevent.
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Re: Roy Moore's revolving door

Postby Lindvaettr » Tue Sep 05, 2017 11:20 pm

cmsellers wrote:I made that mistake on Discord too and then edited it, so I have no excuse for making it a second time and not catching it.

However you have no excuse for posting the bottoms of so many slaternly women; see this is what Roy Moore is trying to prevent.


*slatternly

Christ man, it's as if you aren't even familiar with mid-19th Century Southern English.
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