Embattled Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was scheduled to appear in federal court today to try and have his ethics charges dismissed.
But U.S. District Judge Harold Allbritton abruptly canceled the hearing yesterday afternoon, saying his eventual decision would be based solely on legal documents.
The Chief Justice is facing potential removal from office because of an administrative order he issued in January. The state Judicial Inquiry Commission says Moore encouraged Alabama’s probate judges to disobey a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Mat Staver is the founder of the Liberty Counsel and is representing Chief Justice Roy Moore. He doesn’t believe Moore should have been suspended in the first place.
“If you are charged with anything from the JIC, you are automatically removed from office pending the trial; it’s essentially ‘guilty until proven innocent’, and Alabama is very odd in having that provision. So we’re challenging that, so it doesn’t disrupt other judges around the state of Alabama.”
If the court doesn’t make a decision on Moore’s fate at that hearing, they’ll hold a trial September 28.
A new report shows that extreme drought conditions are continuing in parts of Alabama— especially in the state's northeast corner.
Numbers from the U.S. Drought Monitor released today shows extreme drought conditions across most of Jackson County and parts of Madison and DeKalb counties.
The report indicates that severe drought conditions exist in larger areas across northern Alabama, northwest and eastern Alabama.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is produced through a partnership between the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the federal government.
Bass fishing is headed to Huntsville area. The twenty-first annual Forrest Wood Cup will head to Lake Wheeler today through Sunday.
The winner will be crowned this year’s top bass fisherman. This is the first time since the tournament began that Wheeler Lake has been asked to host the event.
Joe Opager*is head of public relations for the tournament .He says that the contest will see all different sizes of bass and competition should be fierce…
“Well Wheeler Lake is a fantastic fishery. I mean we’re going to see a lot of bass caught and we’re going to see some big bass caught. If you catch around five three pounders, you’re going to be right in the hunt there at the end. There’s some big bass in Wheeler Lake and we’re going to see some big seven eight pounders brought to the scale as well.”
The winner will receive a grand prize of three hundred thousand dollars. Opager expect there to be close to sixty-thousand people at the event.