Since they can’t post the Ten Commandments in the courtroom, Alabama conservative judges are now … wearing them embroidered on their robes.
A judge refused to delay a trial Tuesday when an attorney objected to his wearing a judicial robe with the Ten Commandments embroidered on the front in gold.
Circuit Judge Ashley McKathan showed up Monday at his Covington County courtroom in southern Alabama wearing the robe. Attorneys who try cases at the courthouse said they had not seen him wearing it before. The commandments were described as being big enough to read by anyone near the judge.
[…] McKathan told The Associated Press that he believes the Ten Commandments represent the truth “and you can’t divorce the law from the truth. … The Ten Commandments can help a judge know the difference between right and wrong.”
He said he doesn’t believe the commandments on his robe would have an adverse effect on jurors.
If Judge McKathan wants to keep a copy of the Ten Commandments on his desk in front of him, or in his private chambers, or on a card in his wallet, that is his prerogative. But parading around with them on his formal robes of office says to me that someone who doesn’t follow his “truth” cannot get justice in his courtroom — that someone he considers not worshipping God, or keeping holy the Sabbath, or not being sufficiently honoring to parents, or being adulterous, or whatever, is going to not be treated equally according to the law.
The fact that the infamous Roy Moore supports McKathan is good enough for me. I hope he faces the same disciplinary action (and reversals) that Moore did.
(via SEB, too)
The story kind of reminded me of the coat for Dogs in the Vineyard… except, you know, that’s a GAME, in a fictional setting where such things are demonstrably appropriate. 😛
Well, if Judge McKathan wants to openly step forward as a Warrior for the True Church’s Social order, as opposed to, say, a civil judge, that’s certainly his prerogative, but I don’t see it as being, as you say, appropriate for his position.