Noah Feldman, Columnist

History as Farce at the Alabama Supreme Court

The state's chief justice defies the Constitution (again) and is suspended for it (again).

May 9, 2016 at 2:00 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

First time out.
Photographer: Gary Tramontina/Getty Images

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When Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore ordered his state’s probate judges in January to ignore a Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage, he put himself in jeopardy of losing his job – for the second time. Now Alabama’s Judicial Inquiry Commission has filed formal charges against him for his defiance.

Moore should lose his job. But as he’s shown before, that’s a setback he can overcome. Last time he was removed from office, he ran for governor before settling for reelection as chief justice. Who knows? This time he might even win the governorship.