Roy Moore

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Roy Stewart Moore (pronounced / ɹɔɪ mɔːr / , born February 11, 1947 in Gadsden , Alabama ) is an American lawyer and former judge on the Alabama Supreme Court ; he is a veteran of the Vietnam War and was a professional kickboxer at times .

Professional career

As Chief Justice of Alabama , Moore was twice removed from office by the Supreme Court of the United States ( Supreme Court ) in Washington, DC : In 2003, he had a granite block weighing tons with an engraving of the Ten Commandments of the Bible erected in the Alabama Supreme Court to demonstrate his conviction to express that state and religion should not be separated and that Christian faith takes precedence over the secular administration of justice . Later he drove the granite cube on a flatbed truck (popularly Roy's Rock , "Roy's Rock") in front of churches and supermarkets.

Before his second release as Chief Justice of Alabama, he ignored a Supreme Court ruling that same-sex spouses should not be discriminated against ( see below for his stance on the LGBT community ).

Controversial political views

Moore has represented radical political views for years . Critics called Moore because of his often religiously based positions as " Ayatollah of Alabama"; his Democratic opponent Doug Jones at the Senate elections in December 2017 Alabama he calls "abortion Jones" ( Abortion -Jones ), as this will not change the federal laws on abortions.

Roy Moore's block of granite with the Ten Commandments of the Bible : Laws of Nature and Nature's God , August 2003, in the Alabama Supreme Court building

In a 2011 interview with a conservative US radio host, he expressed the view that "many problems would be solved" if all amendments to the United States Constitution passed after the Bill of Rights were repealed . Comments in the media indicated that it would also undo the abolition of slavery ( 13th Amendment ) and the introduction of women's suffrage ( 19th Amendment ).

In early 2017, he said the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks might be the punishment for alienating the United States from God, such as allowing sodomy and abortion . After his victory in the primary elections, Moore campaigned for the secular rule of law to be abolished and for “God's law” to be established as the only valid law. In an editorial in 2006, he expressed the view that the newly elected Congressman Keith Ellison should not be sworn into office because of his Muslim beliefs. He is also convinced that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States . According to his own statements, he rejects the theory of evolution .

At an event in September 2017, when asked when America was last “great”, he said, “I think it was great when the families were united even though we were slavery ... our country had Orientation ... “and thus faded back to America in the middle of the 19th century. At the same event, he referred to Native American and Asian Americans as "red and yellow."

Moore would like to deprive Muslims of the right to stand as a candidate, i.e. the possibility of being elected to political office.

Positions on the LGBT community

During his career as a judge and politician, Moore took extremely critical positions on the LGBT community in numerous statements and court decisions. He firmly rejected initiatives to promote equality, especially for transgender people and homosexuality . His statements were called homophobic and transphobic in the public discussion .

In his decisions as a judge, Moore was hostile to marriage and the law of adoption for same-sex couples . In a court ruling as chief judge, he described homosexual behavior as a reason for divorce , "crimes against nature" and an "act of indescribable abomination":

" Homosexual behavior is a ground for divorce, an act of sexual misconduct punishable as a crime in Alabama, a crime against nature, an inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies one's ability to describe it.
(German: "Homosexual behavior is a reason for divorce, an act of sexual abuse that is punishable as a crime in Alabama, a crime against nature, an evil in itself and a process so horrible that it cannot be described.") "

- Roy Moore : judgment of the Supreme Court of the State of Alabama, February 15, 2002

In a television interview in 2005, he expressed the view that homosexual behavior should be criminalized. With the decision of Lawrence v. Texas , the 2003 repeal of all "sodomy" prohibitions led, the Supreme Court had unlawfully the legislative power usurped. Alabama was among the 13 states that had laws in place that made sexual intercourse between men a criminal offense until the Supreme Court ruled. The television channels CNN and NBC News showed a Youtube -Video (probably from 2015) out repeatedly in the Moore his statement to criminalize in a similar form.

In the election campaign for the Senate seat in Alabama, he repeatedly reiterated his negative attitude towards the LGBT community. At the beginning of the TV debate with his rival Luther Strange on the Republican area code , Moore declared that he wanted to “liberate” the country from political correctness and “social experiments” such as equality. The country is flooded with “crime, corruption, immorality, abortion and sexual perversion” (“Crime, corruption, immorality, abortion, sodomy, sexual perversion sweep our land.”). Virtue and morality must return to the country. In an interview with the Guardian , he said, like Ronald Reagan once did about Russia, one can now say about the United States that the United States is a “focus of evil in the world” than the US -Government campaigns for "many bad things" like same-sex marriage . He rejected a TV debate with his democratic competitor Doug Jones and justified this with his "liberal stance on transsexuality ".

At a press conference in November 2017, he said that transgender people had no constitutional rights.

Lost by-election to the US Senate in 2017

Canvassing for Moore as governor

Moore was the Republican candidate for the election on December 12, 2017. In this case, the seat in the US Senate , which Jeff Sessions held until his appointment as US attorney general in the Trump administration , was refilled.

After Sessions' appointment, the then Governor of Alabama, Robert J. Bentley, appointed Luther Strange as his successor. Strange also ran in the Republican Party primary to run as a candidate for the by-election and was supported by the party leadership at the federal level, including US President Donald Trump and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell . Roy Moore stood against Strange in the primary as a representative of the right- wing conservative party wing of the Christian right and was supported by right-wing populists such as Stephen Bannon - who had been Trump's advisor in the White House until August 2017 - and his Breitbart News Network : Moore won the runoff on September 26, 2017 with 54.6% of the vote (Strange: 45.4%). Therefore, Moore ran in mid-December 2017 in the extraordinary by-election for the election period remaining until the 2020 regular election against the Democrat Doug Jones . The Washington Post described Strange's defeat as a “political lightning strike” with repercussions on the “civil war” within the Republican Party: it would demoralize those in Congress who would face pre-election challengers from the right-wing populist area. The result also raised questions about how strong Trump's influence still is on his right-wing support base.

Since Moore was a candidate from the right wing of the Republican Party, the Democrats saw an outsider chance to win this by-election in the conservative state of Alabama. At the same time, the result of the Republican area code was considered to be a landmark for the 2018 elections in the United States . In the by-election Moore was defeated by a few tens of thousands of votes against Jones.

Sexual abuse allegations, including of minors

On November 9, 2017, the Washington Post made public allegations by a woman who claims that Moore, then 32, had sexually induced sexual acts at the age of 14 in 1979. The age of consent in the state of Alabama is 16 years. The newspaper also published the statements of three women, who were still underage at the time, to whom Moore is said to have made advances between 1979 and 1982. Moore had these charges denied; they are scattered by political opponents. Then four other women reported and accused Moore of having harassed them. A police officer and former shopping mall employee reported that Moore was banned from entering the area in the late 1970s for repeatedly chasing young girls. Moore's attorney did not specifically deny these reports; he pointed out that there were no official documents to support these statements.

According to prevailing opinion, possible criminal offenses would be statute-barred in all known cases.

Moore announced that he would sue the Washington Post for its reporting of defamation .

Shortly before the Senate by-elections, nine women already testified to Moore's use of sexual violence against them.

Responses to the abuse allegations

Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on November 9, 2017 that if the allegations were correct, Moore would have to stand down as a candidate, and on November 12, he specifically called for it. Even if the Republicans distanced themselves, Moore's name would still be on the ballot papers for the party. There is the option of adding another candidate by hand to the ballot paper (“Write in”); instead, the loser in the area code, the current Senator Luther Strange, was brought up for discussion.

While the Republican National Committee withdrew Moore's fundraising support, the state Republican Party of Alabama retained its support for Moore. The Republican Richard Shelby , next to Luther Strange second US Senator for Alabama, said that he had cast his vote by postal vote not for Moore, but for a registered candidate. Alabama's major newspapers published Stand for Decency, Reject Roy Moore on November 19, 2017 , naming the Democrat Jones as the only candidate worthy of the state in the US -Senate to represent. Moore received support from his religious-conservative base. Particular attention was paid to Jim Ziegler, Alabama's chief auditor , who described the Moore affair as "much ado about very little"; At the birth of Jesus the Virgin Mary was also a teenager and Joseph was a grown man. Theologians and church representatives criticized this statement as morally reprehensible and factually incorrect.

For a long time, President Donald Trump did not take a clear stance on Moore's candidacy. Through his spokeswoman, he let it go, the allegations were "worrying" and should be taken seriously, but the question of the next representative in the Senate should be made by the electorate in Alabama state. On November 21, 2017, Trump stood behind Moore, pointing out that Moore is rejecting the abuse allegations. On November 26, he said on Twitter that Moore's competitor Doug Jones was "a disaster"; one should not let the Democrats around minority leader Chuck Schumer control the Senate. On December 4, 2017, a White House spokesman announced that Trump had given an official election recommendation ( endorsement ) for Moore, prompting the Republican National Committee to resume funding for Moore. Many of the party’s US senators remained skeptical; Susan Collins said she thought Moore's support was a mistake; Jeff Flake donated Jones for his competitor.

Impact of abuse allegations in the surveys

Before the abuse allegations became known, Moore had conducted the polls for the election on November 9 with an average of 48:42 percent, which is already significantly closer than usual for a Republican candidate. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R + 15, Alabama is considered a very safe state for Republicans. The previous elected representative Jeff Sessions had won the Senate elections in Alabama by a large margin since his first election in 1996 . In the 2014 election , the Democrats did not nominate an opposing candidate.

In a first survey the day after the abuse allegations became known, in which 82 percent of the participants said they had heard of the allegations, Moore was on par with the Democratic opponent at 46 percent. At the same time, 54 percent of voters and 73 percent of Republicans said Moore should keep his candidacy. From then on, the polls saw one candidate and the other in the lead. Because voter turnout in by-elections is generally difficult to assess, and especially given the extraordinary circumstances of this election, the polls were not considered to be an informative indicator.

Personal impact of the abuse allegations

In March 2018, Moore started a crowdfunding project with the aim of raising $ 250,000 from supporters of his candidacy to fend off lawsuits brought by the alleged harassment victims. In a notice on Facebook , Moore said the cost of his legal counsel could exceed $ 100,000. Gays , lesbians and transgender people allied themselves with social forces that advocated abortion and anal intercourse. In such “dangerous times” Christians should not allow themselves to remain inactive (followed by a biblical quotation from verses 2 Timothy 3-4 ). After the failed candidacy, however, his financial resources were exhausted. So he now needs financial help to finally defeat those "who wanted to destroy America" with a legal defense fund ( Roy Moore Legal Defense Fund ).

2020 US Senate elections

On June 20, 2019, Moore announced that he would run again in the 2020 US Senate elections. In the election campaign for the Republican primary, he presented himself as a fighter for religious freedom , which he would have defended as a judge with his refusal to remove the granite block with the Ten Commandments from the Supreme Court and the rejection of same-sex marriages.

In the primary election on March 3, 2020, he received 7.2% of the vote and was eliminated from the race.

Web links

Footnotes

  1. August 8, 2017: Roy Moore's election commercial , accessed November 12, 2017
  2. a b c d e f g badische-zeitung.de , December 11, 2017: Frank Herrmann: The Donald Trump of Alabama - Abroad - Badische Zeitung . ( badische-zeitung.de [accessed on December 11, 2017]).
  3. Washington Post November 9, 2017: A list of the many righteous things Roy Moore has said about sex and morality , accessed November 19, 2017.
  4. Fox News November 18, 2017: Roy Moore's sexual assault allegations cloud Alabama special Senate election , accessed November 19, 2017.
  5. New York Magazine October 3, 2017: Democrats Have a Real Chance to Beat Roy Moore - They Should Take It , accessed November 19, 2017.
  6. Chicago Tribune November 19, 2017: Not going to miss the Ayatollah of Alabama ': State's chief justice removed in gay-marriage dispute , accessed November 19, 2017.
  7. CNN December 12, 2017: Roy Moore in 2011: Getting rid of amendments after 10th would eliminate many problems , accessed December 12, 2017.
  8. Vox December 12, 2017: Roy Moore was once again caught making remarks that can be interpreted as okay with slavery , accessed December 12, 2017.
  9. Andrew Kaczynski, Nathan McDermott: Senate candidate Roy Moore this year suggested 9/11 might have been punishment for US turning away from God. In: CNN.com , September 14, 2017 (English).
  10. Trump's party friend wants to establish “God's law”. In: FAZ.net , September 27, 2017.
  11. Politico September 27, 2017: The 7 most inflammatory things Roy Moore has said , accessed November 15, 2017.
  12. Washington Post September 21, 2017: Roy Moore disrupts the US Senate race in Alabama , accessed November 19, 2017.
  13. In Alabama, the heart of Trump country, many think he's backing the wrong candidate in Senate race , Lisa Mascaro, Los Angeles Times, September 21, 2017
  14. Baltimore Sun November 19, 2017: Hogan says Alabama GOP candidate Moore is 'unfit for office,' criticizes his defenders , accessed November 19, 2017.
  15. Boston Globe November 19, 2017: Roy Moore is unfit for the Senate - will any Republican say so? , accessed November 19, 2017.
  16. Washington Post November 10, 2017: Accusations against Roy Moore just added fuel to the LGBT community's fire , accessed November 19, 2017.
  17. ^ Alabama Supreme Court February 15, 2002: Concurring Opinion from Judge Roy Moore (citation: 830 Sun. 2d 21) , accessed November 19, 2017.
  18. C-SPAN September 21, 2017: Roy Moore in 2005 with Bill Press (1:58) , accessed November 19, 2017.
  19. CNN November 19, 2017: Senate candidate Roy Moore in 2005: Homosexual conduct should be illegal , accessed November 19, 2017; Youtube , upload on May 23, 2015: Interview with Roy Moore (9:27) , accessed on November 19, 2017; NBC News September 22, 2017: Homosexual Conduct Should Be Illegal, Roy Moore Said in Interview , accessed November 19, 2017.
  20. Golden State Times (YouTube channel) September 21, 2017: TV debate between Roy Moore and Luther Strange (7:45), (9:08), (8:40) , accessed on November 19, 2017.
  21. Guardian December 9, 2017: 'Maybe Putin was right': Roy Moore remark on same-sex marriage resurfaces , accessed December 9, 2017.
  22. The Hill November 10, 2017: Moore refused debate because of Dem rival's stance on transgenderism , accessed November 19, 2017.
  23. The Hill November 9, 2017: Roy Moore: The transgenders don't have rights , accessed November 15, 2017.
  24. ^ Alabama Election Results: Roy Moore Advances in Race for US Senate Seat. In: The New York Times , September 27, 2017 (English).
  25. ^ Robert Costa: After Alabama, GOP anti-establishment wing declares all-out was in 2018. In: The Washington Post , September 26, 2017 (English).
  26. Steffens, Frauke: Senate by-election: Alabama says no to Roy Moore - and to Trump . In: faz.net , December 13, 2017 (accessed December 13, 2017).
  27. Code of Alabama: 13A-6-70 (c), cl.1 , accessed November 17, 2017.
  28. FAZ.net: New allegations of harassment against Roy Moore
  29. The New Yorker November 13, 2017: Locals Were Troubled by Roy Moore's Interactions with Teen Girls at the Gadsden Mall , accessed November 17, 2017.
  30. ABC News November 16, 2017: Roy Moore accuser: I got him banned from the mall , accessed November 17, 2017.
  31. CNN November 11, 2017: When it comes to Roy Moore, forget politics , accessed November 17, 2017.
  32. CNN November 13, 2017: Moore threatens to sue Washington Post over report , accessed November 20, 2017.
  33. Stephanie McCrummen, Beth Reinhard, Alice Crites: Woman says Roy Moore initiated sexual encounter when she was 14, he was 32. In: The Washington Post , November 9, 2017 (English); Christina Wilkie: Mitch McConnell: Roy Moore should drop Senate bid if sex allegations with teens are true. In: CNBC , November 9, 2017 (English); Bush and Moore are said to have sexually molested other women. In: Spiegel Online , November 13, 2017.
  34. Michael Scherer: Mitch McConnell calls on Roy Moore to exit Alabama Senate race 'if these allegations are true'. In: The Washington Post , November 9, 2017.
  35. ^ Republicans End Joint Fundraising with Moore. In: Electoral-Vote.com , November 11, 2017 (English).
  36. ^ Alabama GOP senator: I voted for a write-in instead of Moore. In: The Hill , November 27, 2017 (English).
  37. ^ Brian Stelter: Alabama's biggest newspapers urge voters to 'reject Roy Moore'. In: CNN.com , November 19, 2017 (English).
  38. Come Hell or High Water: Roy Moore's Religious Base Stands by Its Man at Chaotic Press Conference. In: The Daily Beast , November 16, 2017 (English); Roy Moore stands shoulder to shoulder with fiercest religious allies. In: The Associated Press , November 18, 2017.
  39. ^ Supporters defend Roy Moore: "Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter". In: Vox Media , November 9, 2017 (English).
  40. Sorry, Roy Moore. Joseph Wasn't Twice Mary's Age. In: Politico , November 17, 2017 (English).
  41. Trump ducks Moore scandal. In: Politico , November 16, 2017 (English).
  42. Trump stands behind controversial Senate candidates. In: FAZ.net , November 22, 2017.
  43. Business Insider November 26, 2017: Trump issues another de facto endorsement of Roy Moore , accessed November 27, 2017.
  44. ^ Trump calls Roy Moore to offer his endorsement. In: CNN.com , December 4, 2017 (English).
  45. ^ RNC is getting back into the Alabama Senate race. In: CNN.com , December 4, 2017 (English).
  46. Seung Min Kim, Kevin Robillard: GOP senators grumble over Trump, RNC backing Moore. In: Politico , December 5, 2017 (English).
  47. Clare Malone, Harry Enten: 9 Key Questions About Roy Moore And The Alabama Senate Race. In: FiveThirtyEight , November 9, 2017 (English).
  48. ^ Cook Partisan Voting Index: Map and District List , accessed November 12, 2017.
  49. State of Alabama Canvass of Results, General Election November 4, 2014 (English). Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  50. Ben Kamisar: Alabama poll: Moore and Jones tied following scandal. In: The Hill , November 10, 2017 (English).
  51. Steven Shepard: Is Roy Moore winning? Don't ask the pollsters. In: Politico , December 3, 2017 (English); Mark Blumenthal: Alabama Senate race: a poll without a prediction. In: Surveymonkey.com , December 9, 2017 (English); Nate Cohn: Why No One Knows What Will Happen in Alabama. In: The New York Times , December 12, 2017.
  52. Washington Post March 2, 2018: Roy Moore issues grievance-laden plea for money: 'My resources have been depleted' , accessed March 3, 2018.
  53. The Hill March 2, 2018: Roy Moore pleads for money to cover legal fees , accessed March 3, 2018.
  54. Chicago Tribune March 3, 2018: Roy Moore issues grievance-laden plea for money , accessed March 3, 2018.
  55. ^ New York Daily News March 3, 2018: Accused child molester and failed GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore complains that he's going broke , accessed March 3, 2018.
  56. Vox News, June 20, 2019: Roy Moore is running for Alabama's Senate seat - again , accessed June 20, 2019.
  57. a b United States Senate election in Alabama, 2020 (March 3 Republican primary). In: Ballotpedia. Lucy Burns Institute, accessed March 4, 2020 .