Moore Is Less

On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington, Alabama Supreme Court Judge Roy Moore has reportedly compared his fight to keep a large stone carving of the Ten Commandments in the lobby of the state Supreme Court to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s advocacy for civil rights for African-Americans. The King analogy has also been made by Jerry Falwell and Alan Keyes. (More from Keyes here, making a subtle and nuanced comparison between Judge Thompson's order and hypothetical federal-Nazi concentration camps.)

The analogy between King's fight for voting rights, economic justice and an end to Southern terror and Roy's defense of his vanity paperweight is of course absurd. The more interesting question is whether Moore personally has the moral authority invoke King's legacy.

Mr. Moore in high school when Dr. King gave his address from the Lincoln Memorial, and surely was aware of the discrimination and bigotry surrounding him in his home state at the time. Yet his lengthy official biography is silent on any support for the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, or at any time. Roy's moral awakening apparently came a little too late to help his Alabama brothers and sisters in their struggle for equality.

And Mac Diva at Mac-a-ron-ies points to this summary of Council of Conservative Citizens newsletters, which reportedly states that Judge Roy Moore spoke a 1995 CofCC conference:

"Vol. 27 - Winter 1995/1996 - Page 1 -- Birmingham semi-annual conference of the CofCC and the Conservative Citizens Foundation. Attendees are: Dr. Ron Rumburg, president of the Central Alabama CofCC; Jefferson County Commissioner Bettye Fine Collins; Birmingham City Councilman Dr. Jimmy Blake who gave a key to the City to Tom Dover CofCC president; Judge Roy Moore of the Alabama 16th Circuit Court of Ten Amendments [sic] fame, was the first speaker; Mississippi State Senator Mike Gunn spoke; Lt. Charles Brush, president of the Birmingham Firefighters Assoc. spoke; Wetumpka City Councilman David Haynes spoke; at the Luncheon Dr. Charles Baker, International Sons of Confederate Veterans chaplain and Central Alabama CofCC chaplain said grace; Jefferson County Board of Education member Kevin Walsh spoke; Rev. Buddy Smith assistant for the American Family Association discussed morality in America. Some other speakers spoke on Confederate heritage." (Emphasis added.)

You may recall that Trent Lott and Bob Barr spoke at other CCC meetings, and then claimed not to know what the group was all about. Of course, the foregoing is a paraphrase of the newsletter. Perhaps Moore's speech to the CCC was a tribute to the slain civil rights leader (or perhaps a theological analysis of the prohibition against coveting your "neighbor's manservant").

Perhaps the next time Roy likens himself to King, some diligent reporter will ask him for a copy of his 1995 speech.