Personal Opinion: Roy Moore

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 years old or younger, while he was in his 30s. 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 new allegations surfaced.

Moore was twice suspended from of the Alabama supreme court. He was first suspended for ignoring a federal ruling 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  marriage licenses to same sex couples.

As a judge, Moore should’ve known that the Supreme Court is the highest court and that their interpretation of the Constitution is final. It was determined that Moore violated the state’s canon of judicial ethics and suspended him again.

This second suspension was surprising, but 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 is baffling that this man could be electable once again.

Now, Moore is embroiled with yet another scandal. This scandal however has the whole country watching. 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. Even Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whose seat Moore is attempting to fill, has said “I have no reason to doubt these young women.”

Right now 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 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 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.