News & Insights

Ashby Pate Delivers Closing Arguments for the Prosecution in Ethics Trial of Chief Justice Roy Moore; Court of the Judiciary finds Chief Justice Guilty on All Counts, Suspending Him from Office

October 2, 2016

On Wednesday, September 28, 2016, Pate, who, along with a former federal judge and lead prosecutor, John Carroll, prosecuted the charges against Moore, argued that a January 6, 2016 Administrative Order issued by the Chief Justice that ordered Alabama’s probate judges to refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses constituted defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, as well as a binding federal court injunction prohibiting those probate judges from denying same-sex marriage licenses.

In a unanimous verdict on Friday, September 30, 2016, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary suspended the Chief Justice from office for the remainder of his elected term, without pay. For coverage, see the following:

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-roy-moore-ethics-20160928-snap-story.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/01/us/roy-moore-alabama-chief-justice.html