Former Alabama Supreme Court justice Roy Moore was ousted from office almost a decade ago for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument he placed in the state’s judicial building.
But now that the nationally known “Ten Commandments judge” is poised to re-join the state’s highest court as chief justice after winning his Republican primary race Tuesday, Moore told The Daily Caller that he has no plans to revive the issue and return the Ten Commandments bust to the building.
“If I brought a monument back, it would appear to be more about me and my will than God and God’s law,” Moore told TheDC by phone on Thursday.
He argued that bringing the monument back would “confuse the issue” that led to his 2003 departure from the court.
“It was never about the Ten Commandments in the first place,” Moore said of his ouster. “It was never about religion or a monument. It was about the acknowledgment of the sovereignty of God.”
“I will continue to acknowledge the sovereignty of God over law, liberty and government because that’s what our Constitution is founded upon,” he said. “That’s what the country began upon. It’s truth, and it can’t be denied. It cannot be denied.”
Moore’s victory on Tuesday in a tight three-way race to be the Republican nominee for chief justice in Alabama comes after years of failure in other statewide elections. (RELATED: The Alabama comeback of the ‘Ten Commandments judge’)
He ran for governor of Alabama in both 2006 and 2010, but was unable to win the Republican nomination either time.
Asked if his win should be considered a “resurrection,” Moore laughed and said: “You have to be dead for a resurrection. I didn’t know I was dead.”
Moore called his victory “providential indication” and said he thinks “providence has showered his blessings upon us. I think that God has given us favor.”
He speculated that he was able to win the primary to return to the court — after losing two gubernatorial races — because “a lot of people have expressed to me that it was especially exciting to them for me to be returning.”
“A lot of people … shared my belief that it was wrong to be removed from office for that. They were excited about my return,” he said.
There’s been chatter that Moore eventually wants to run again for governor of Alabama, but he said flatly: “Right now the court system is where I belong.”
“I’m not contemplating another office at this time,” he said.
As for his decision not to revive the issue of the Ten Commandments monument, Moore said it doesn’t worry him that groups like the American Civil Liberties Union will be feel like they’ve won.
“I don’t think they think they’ve won, because they’re fighting the heck out of me going back,” he said.