Alabama judge wears Ten Commandments on robe News
Alabama judge wears Ten Commandments on robe

[JURIST] A circuit court judge in rural Alabama created a constitutional stir Tuesday by wearing a robe embroidered with the text of the Ten Commandments on the bench and insisting on carrying on with a trial despite objections by an attorney appearing before him who said that the display was distracting. Covington County Presiding Circuit Court Judge Ashley McKathan explained that he wanted to honor the truth of the Commandments, that he had paid for the robe himself, and that he had selected a small size for the lettering so that it would not be "in the face" of jurors. McKathan's action immediately reminded observers of former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was stripped of office earlier this year by an Alabama judicial ethics board after failing to comply with a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument he had placed in the front hall of the state Judicial Building in Montgomery. Moore told reporters that he supported McKathan's action. From Alabama, the Mobile Register provides local coverage.