Florida Attorney General Slip Opinion 7015

Constitutionality of courthouse Ten Commandments display
The chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment when he installed a two-and-a-half ton monument to the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the Alabama State Judicial Building, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held.
The court said the placement of the monument as the centerpiece of the rotunda created the impression “of being in the presence of something holy and sacred.” The 11th Circuit concluded that Chief Justice Roy S. Moore’s purpose in displaying the monument was non-secular and said the monument’s primary purpose was to advance religion. The court also rejected the chief justice’s assertion that, because he is head of an independent unit of government, no court below the U.S. Supreme Court has the authority to order the removal over his objections.
“The rule of law does require that every person obey judicial orders when all available means of appealing them have been exhausted. The chief justice of a state supreme court, of all people, should be expected to abide by that principle. We do expect that if he is unable to have the district court’s order overturned through the usual appellate processes, when the time comes Chief Justice Moore will obey that order. If necessary, the court order will be enforced. The rule of law will prevail,” the 11th Circuit said.