Roy Moore was removed from his position as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme court in 2003 because he defied an order from a federal court to remove a 2.6 tone granite Ten Commandments monument that Moore had placed in the rotunda of the state's judicial building.

Democracy prevailed last fall, and Moore was reelected to his old post in November and sworn in last Friday. He ran as a Republican.

MONTGOMERY, Alabama ---- Roy Moore touched on themes familiar to those who have followed his career during a speech after being sworn in as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court today.

Moore, who was removed from the same office a little more than nine years ago, quoted scripture and said the basis of the judicial system was laid out in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. He quoted Madison and Washington and talked about the importance of acknowledging God.

“We’ve got to remember that most of what we do in court comes from some scripture or is backed by scripture,” Moore said to an overflow audience that included many of his relatives and some classmates from his days at West Point.

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Moore is also known for his interesting in protecting children. When he was Chief Justice in Alabama the first time, he wrote a stinging statement in a case where the majority of the court said it was OK to give custody of a child to the child's lesbian mother, instead of the father who had allegedly been abusive to the child. "To disfavor practicing homosexuals in custody matters is not invidious discrimination," Moore wrote, "nor is it legislating personal morality. On the contrary, disfavoring practicing homosexuals in custody matters promotes the general welfare of the people of our State in accordance with our law, which is the duty of its public servants." Beyond the legal issues, Moore added that homosexuality is an "inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies one's ability to describe it."