By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – Attorneys for Roy Moore say the seven retired judges chosen to hear the former chief justice's appeal of his dismissal were chosen through an illegal process.
Acting Chief Justice Gorman Houston -- with the blessing of Governor Bob Riley -- had the retired judges' names drawn at random from a box to form a replacement court to hear Moore's appeal. But a motion filed by Moore's attorneys says state law requires the governor to choose court replacements. The motion also says a 2000 ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court says judges who have stepped down from hearing a case "can take no further action in that case, not even the action of reassigning the case.''
Moore was expelled from office by a judicial ethics panel for refusing to obey a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandment monument from the rotunda of the state Judicial Building. He has been trying a variety of legal maneuvers to regain his job.