A Note on the Moore Cases and Judicial Administration.

The article comments on the Justice Roy Moore cases and judicial administration. In November 2000, Roy Moore was elected chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. He had pledged to install a monument to the Ten Commandments in the state judicial building if elected. Eight months after his inauguration, Moore followed up on his campaign promise, placing a custom-built granite monument to the Ten Commandments in the state judicial building's rotunda. This act sparked a lengthy legal and political battle, drawing national attention and involving state and federal courts of all levels. While the debates over the monument focused most prominently on the First Amendment aspect of this controversy, an equally interesting and rich legal debate was underlying this struggle. The Alabama State Constitution makes the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court the administrative head of the Alabama judicial system. Thus, once installed, Moore became not only the presiding justice of the state supreme court but also filled an administrative capacity, responsible for the maintenance and support of the buildings of the state judicial system, among other things.