The World Around You

Mitch Frank of Time Magazine writes,

Alabama’s Republican Governor Bob Riley is either politically suicidal or the bravest chief executive in the country. He could be both.
…
If the referendum loses, Riley and the legislature will have three weeks to find another solution to the budget crunch. But Riley will know he took his best shot at helping his state. Such political courage is hard to find these days; in California, they’re trying to kick the governor out of office, partially because he lacks such courage. Win or lose, Riley has shown he’s got bravery to spare.

When people ask me why I support this plan, this is the first of many answers. Because this governor, whom I did not support during the election, has finally brought bravery, honor and integrity to the office of the chief executive of Alabama. I support him, I believe in his leadership abilities and I believe he can do what he says he will do. Namely, bring Alabama up off the bottom of the heap.

Leadership goes a long way in politics and many of the opponents of Ammendment 1 have forgotten this. The most egregious abuses that have gone on in the past would not have happened if there had been a leader with integrity and bravery in the Governor’s Office. Bob Riley has not abandoned his values, many Alabamians have abandoned theirs.

Josh Marshall posts on the growing problem of up-is-downism among some of our conservative brethren. We’ve seen this on the local front as well, i.e. Roy Moore aligning himself with the civil rights pioneers when his position is much more clearly parallel to George Wallace and the segregationists.

The Birmingham News editorial page points out that Roy Moore must face consequences for his actions,

Thursday, lawyers who sued over the Ten Commandments monument in the Judicial Building rotunda filed a judicial ethics complaint against Moore, soon after he announced he would defy a federal court order to remove the monument.

The complaint is no overreaction. The state canons of judicial ethics require judges, among other things, to uphold the integrity of the judiciary, to be faithful to the law, to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Put simply, Moore’s conduct is supposed to build trust in the court system. Instead, he is bringing dishonor to his profession and encouraging disrespect for the courts. He even resorted to professional attacks on the federal judge who issued the Ten Commandments order.

The Judicial Inquiry Commission - which is made up of judges, lawyers and nonlawyers - will determine whether Moore’s conduct rises to the level of an ethics violation. If so, Moore would be charged at the Court of the Judiciary (another set of judges, lawyers and nonlawyers) and would be suspended with pay while the case proceeds. If ultimately found guilty, Moore could face punishment as extreme as removal from the bench.

The editorial goes on to say that Moore is suggesting that it’s okay to defy a court order, if you don’t agree with it. How does that mesh with his supposed battle to acknowledge the foundations of our laws? He is obliterating that very foundation. I only hope he faces the same sort of defiance by everyone who appears before his court for the rest of his days on the bench.