May 24, 2013
The law firm of former U.S. Senate candidate Julian McPhillips made a last minute attempt to file legal papers supporting Chief Justice Roy Moore's effort to keep a Ten Commandments monument in the Alabama Judicial Building, but Moore said no to the offer.
McPhillips and other attorneys in his firm asked Montgomery Federal Judge Myron Thompson for permission to file legal papers supporting the chief justice's position. The motion was made after a trial on the issue ended last week.
Thompson, who said he would issue a ruling by Nov. 18, turned down the request Wednesday.
The lawsuit was filed by the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State on behalf of three Alabama attorneys who said they were offended by the monument.
McPhillips, who lost the Democratic Primary for the U.S. Senate, declined to comment and said his firm's position was covered in the motion.
