Fever Pitch In Alabama

Protesters hoping to keep a Ten Commandments monument in the state judicial building marched on Attorney General Bill Pryor's office Tuesday, demanding he resign for abiding by a federal court order for the marker's removal.

About 150 monument supporters marched from the judicial building to the nearby Statehouse to meet with Pryor, but were met by 10 state police blocking the door. Seven representatives were allowed inside to meet with Pryor's chief deputy for about 20 minutes.

The rest of the group remained outside, chanting, "Resign now! Resign now!"

Protesters have pinned their hopes to a court hearing that is to be held Wednesday on a last-ditch lawsuit filed Monday seeking a temporary restraining order against removal of the tablets. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Mobile on behalf of a Christian radio talk show host and a pastor, says forced removal would violate the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion.

The 5,300-pound monument remains in the rotunda of the judicial building, where chief Justice Roy Moore installed it two years ago. A federal judge has held it violates the constitution's ban on government promotion of religious doctrine and gave Moore a deadline of last Wednesday to remove it.

When Moore refused, associate justices ordered it out, supported by Pryor. Moore also was suspended Friday on charges of violating canons of judicial ethics for refusing to obey the court order, and Pryor will oversee his prosecution.

Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, accused Pryor of political grandstanding to aid his nomination to a federal appeals court. It has been stalled by Senate Democrats who attacked the Republican Pryor for stands against abortion and in favor of state's rights.

Pryor has said it is his duty to uphold a federal court order to remove the marker.

"Bill Pryor should be protecting the citizens of Alabama instead of campaigning to get confirmation to the 11th Circuit," Mahoney said.

In a brief speech Monday, Moore told a cheering crowd he would fight to return to his elected position and said the case against him is based not on something he did wrong but because "I've kept my oath."

At least 300 protesters were there to hear Moore speak publicly for the first time since his suspension.

The monument is expected to be removed from public view in the rotunda this week, though at least one company has refused the job. Clark Memorial, the Birmingham company that built the monument and moved it into the building, declined to take it out, for business and personal reasons, vice president Charles Tourney said.

Authorities have said the monument is so big and heavy it would be virtually impossible to move it to another floor in the building.

MONTGOMERY, Ala., Aug. 27, 2003