May 18, 2013
A federal judge in Montgomery ruled Monday that a Ten Commandments monument installed in Alabama's Judicial Building by the chief justice violates the constitution's ban on government promotion of religion and must be removed.
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson gave Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore 30 days to remove the 5,300-pound granite monument from the rotunda of the state building. The monument was installed on the night of July 31, 2001.
Attorneys representing Moore have said in the past that they would appeal such a ruling.
