As expected, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has been removed from office by an "ethics" committee.

The case was prosecuted by the state's attorney general, Bill Pryor, who disingenuously weaseled his way into office by misrepresenting himself to the governor as one who believes a state official is duty-bound to disobey an unconstitutional court opinion.

According to an affidavit filed by former Alabama governor Fob James, who appointed Pryor to his job:

I talked with Bill Pryor about all this when I was considering him for the job of Alabama Attorney-General. He impressed me with his knowledge of these things and provided me with some legal papers on “non acquiescence” that he was responsible for while at the Tulane Law School. I told Bill about my view that constitutional officials needed to challenge the Supreme Court. For instance, for twenty years my view has been that a Governor should refuse to allow enforcement of a patently unconstitutional court order, and force the president to take action one way or the other on the issue. I don’t mean that we should fight anyone with troops. I do mean that we should use our constitutional authority to force the great issue of the day into the provinces of all branches of the federal government, not just a judiciary that likes to sweep everything under its own rug where it has nearly exclusive control. Bill Pryor was aware of my views when I appointed him, because we discussed these things. Bill had indicated nothing but his wholehearted support of my position on these issues at the time

....Bill’s actions today are utterly contrary to the political and legal convictions he expressed to me. Had he expressed his present view, I would not have found him qualified to be Attorney-General of Alabama. The main reason Pryor was appointed was his understanding and the ability to express that understanding well that a public official’s highest duty was to the Constitution of the United States and not to the Supreme Court or any other entity.

Here is a portion of Bill Pryor's questioning of Roy Moore on the stand yesterday:

Q: Mr. Chief Justice? And your understanding is that the federal court ordered that you could not acknowledge God; isn’t that right?

A: Yes.

Q: And if you resume your duties as Chief Justice after this proceeding, you will continue to acknowledge God as you have testified that you would today?

A: That’s right.

Q: No matter what any official says?

A: Absolutely.

Wow, I guess Pryor got him there. Imagine the gall--a state official acknowledging God!

Fortunately, while Moore's legal battle has come to an unsuccesful end, he will likely only move forward from here--very possibly to the United States Senate.