CORRESPONDENCErnLetter FromrnAlabamarnby Michael HillrnThis Dog Won’t HuntrnJudge Roy Moore of Etowah County,rnAlabama, was sued by the ACLUrnand something cahed the AlabamarnFreethought Association (Unitarian-rnUniversalists, I believe they are) back inrn1995 for displaying the Ten Commandmentsrnon his courtroom wall and for beginningrneach session with a prayer by arnChristian clergyman. Over the past year,rnthe affair has taken several legal twistsrnand turns and has now become somethingrnof a cause celebre among the commonrnfolk of Alabama. Earlier this year, arnMontgomery County judge ruled thatrnMoore must take down the offendingrnMosaic code and put an end to thernpraers; however, the Alabama SupremernCourt has since issued Judge Moore arnstay. This means that the next time therncase reaches a courtroom it will probablyrnbe argued before a federal instead of arnstate judge, and whereas the state courtsrnhave thus far been favorably inclinedrntoward Judge Moore, the federal courtsrnare likely to rule against him. This couldrnlead to a showdown between GovernorrnFob James, who has promised to callrnout the National Guard and state troopersrnto protect Moore, and the federalrncourts.rnWhen Governor James in 1995 firstrnmentioned using the Alabama Guard onrnJudge Moore’s behalf, the media paid littlernattention. However, since then publiernsupport for the governor and thernjudge has been growing. Both men haverncriss-crossed the state, speaking at largernand enthusiastic public rallies, and in thernspring public officials at the governor’srnmansion in Montgomerv said they werernreceiving some 17,000 pieces of mail arnday in support of James and Moore.rnSuddenly, the media—both statewidernand national—began to take seriouslyrnthe governor’s flirtation with nullificationrnand interposition.rnBut just how serious is Forrest Moodrn(Fob) James about all this? hi a recentrninterview, he reiterated his stand on callingrnout the Guard and the troopers, butrnwhen asked what he would do in case thernPresident federalized the Guard, Jamesrnanswered; “Then that would be it.”rnWhat “it” is he did not say, but mostrnfolks are betting that he will simply gornback to Montgomery and tell his supportersrnthat he did his best. Not that thernGovernor would be lacking support if hernwere really determined to oppose an intrusivernfederal government; his office reportsrnthat more than a few well-armed,rnpatriotic Alabamians (and other Southerners)rnhave offered to back him all thernway. And then there is the tantalizingrnquestion of the first loyalty of the AlabamarnNational Guard.rnWhile all this is the stuff of politicalrndrama, I doubt a meaningful constitutionalrnshowdown will ever come to pass.rnFor his part. Judge Roy Moore, whomrnFve interviewed at length, is determinedrnto see this stand through as a matter ofrndeeply-held principle. But GovernorrnJames has some room to wiggle out ofrnthe coals if they get too hot. What isrnworse, the affair began to take on a comicrnnote with the arrival of Ralph Reed’srnChristian Coalition and the usual neoeonservativerncamp followers, ever eagerrnto jump on the religion bandwagon.rnOn April 12, Reed joined GovernorrnJames, Judge Moore, and several otherrnneoconservative speakers at a “Save thernTen Commandments Rally” on the stepsrnof the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery.rnOrganizers confidentlv predictedrna turnout of 50,000 to 75,000; in fact,rnestimates of the crowd size ranged betweenrn6,000 and 25,000. The rally’s lowerrnthan expected attendance may reflectrndissatisfaction with the organizers’ decisionrnto ban certain cosponsors of thernevent out of fear of bad publicity. For example,rnthe Southern League, after havingrnbeen accepted as a cosponsor, receivedrnword at the last minute that itrncould not participate because of its “secessionist”rnleanings (which would, accordingrnto rally officials, “embarrass thernGovernor and the Judge”).rnWhile nearly every speaker blastedrnaway at federal judges for making ratherrnthan interpreting law, there was morernheat than light. What seemed lost onrnboth speakers and rally-goers was thatrnthe issue surrounding Judge Moore andrnGovernor James is states’ rights. Insteadrnof complaining about judicial tyrannyrnwhile hoping that a “conservative”rnSupreme Court will some day right thernjurisprudential wrongs of the last severalrndecades, the participants at the rallyrnwould have been better off looking forrnlocal solutions to the problems inflictedrnby a central government that now definesrnthe limits of its own authority.rnGovernor James’s threat to call outrnthe Guard sounds the theme of states’rnrights, but James is alone, and his wordsrnmay prove to be more bluster than principle.rnThe Confederate battle flag stood outrnas one of the few heartening signs at thernrally; at least a few of the attendees realizedrnthe eentrality of states’ rights to thernwhole affair. However, it was strange andrndisconcerting to see that banner wavingrnamid paeans to Abe Lincoln and MartinrnLuther King, Jr., both of whom did theirrnbest to destroy limited government andrnstate autonomy. This neoconservativernlove-fest, which occurred in the first capitalrnof the Confederacy, was an insult tornthe memory of Jeff Davis, whose statuernlooked sadly down on hundreds of peoplernwho neither knew nor cared aboutrnthe cause for which he and his contemporariesrnsuffered.rnIf Christian Southern conservativesrnfollow the lead of Ralph Reed, then therncourage displayed by Judge Moore andrnGovernor James will have been in vain.rnAny serious consideration of states’ rightsrnstill scares the pants off the leaders of thernChristian Coalition. A good backbonerntransplant would seem to be in order forrnthose who organized the rally. By theirrncowardice they are reducing Christ’s admonitionrnto be faithful unto death tornsomething more like faithfulness thatrnstops short of inconvenience. Anyonernwho expected this affair to spark a constitutionalrncrisis would be better off lookingrnelsewhere for excitement. This dogrnwon’t hunt.rnMichael Hill is a historian and presidentrnof the League of the South, formerlyrnknown as the Southern League.rnOCTOBER 1997/45rnrnrn