The Birmingham News applauds the latest tactics of Moore as a proper means to rein in the judiciary,

As part of the Constitution’s famed “checks and balances,” Article III notes that the federal courts shall have either original or appellate jurisdiction of “all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution” — but only “with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.”

The point is that Congress does have the power to reign in abusive courts. One reason courts have become so powerful is that Congress has almost never exercised this important power.

If Mr. Moore wants to bring the courts to heel, this is the proper way to go about it.

The question is, though, why should Mr. Moore, while serving as chief justice, dishonor the very legal system he was sworn to uphold, when he had other options such as the one he now proposes?

While the case was still ongoing, Mr. Moore could have filed appeals in a timely fashion — but he didn’t. He could have complied with the court order under protest, while vowing to overturn it either by constitutional amendment or by this little-used method of limiting the courts’ jurisdiction.

Instead, he made himself a martyr and obnoxiously compared his treatment to that of the victims of Nazi Germany.

The very fact that other, lawful means remain available for him to carry on his fight shows just how wrongly he went about the fight in the first place.