Roy Moore Opinion

Charles Rankin

Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for the vacant Senate seat in Alabama, is unfit to serve as a United States Senator.

People feel that he made himself unfit when news broke last week alleging Moore of sexual misconduct from five women, all of whom were 18 or younger, while he was in his 30s. In this day and age, accusations like this are very serious and typically would disqualify someone, in the eye of the public at least, from serving in such a high profile position.

Moore disqualified himself long before these allegations surfaced.

Moore was suspended from duty as a justice on the Alabama Supreme Court twice, once for refusing to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the Alabama state courthouse. The second suspension, as the Chief Justice no less, stemmed from Moore’s actions in response to the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, the U.S. Supreme Court case which saw marriage equality become law across the United States.

Moore gave an order in January, 2016, directing probate judges in Alabama “not to issue any marriage license contrary to the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment or the Alabama Marriage Protection Act remain in full force and effect.”

As a judge in the U.S. Moore should’ve known that the Supreme Court is the highest court and that their interpretation of the Constitution is final. The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission determined that Moore violated three of the seven canons of judicial ethics within the state and suspended him again.

This second suspension was surprising, but perhaps not as surprising as the fact that Alabama Supreme Court Justices are elected, meaning that Roy Moore, the man who was previously kicked out of his position as a justice, was elected, by the people of Alabama, to another position as a justice. I believe in second chances as much as anyone, yet it baffles me that this man could be electable once again.

Now, Moore is embroiled with yet another scandal. The only difference is that this one has encapsulated an entire country. He has refused to drop out of the race, even as it appears that he is losing the support of the members of his own party, with prominent figures such as Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell coming forward and asking Moore to step aside from the election. Even the person whose seat Moore is attempting to fill, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has said “I have no reason to doubt these young women.”

Right now, however, there is little that the Republican party can do. Moore is refusing to step down from his campaign and most polls show him still with a narrow lead against his Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, as the Dec. 12 election date nears.

There is some hope even if Moore is elected. One can hope that the Senate uses its power and authority to expel Moore from his office. It takes a two-thirds majority to do so and as a growing number of Republicans are denouncing these alleged actions, the possibility of expulsion seems more and more likely.

In order to avoid such a disastrous and embarrassing outcome however, now is truly the time for Roy Moore to step aside from this campaign and politics forever. It would save all of us in this country a lot of time, money and headache.