Court Won't Enter Ten Commandments Fight

By ANNE GEARAN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court refused Monday to enter the long-running fight over an enormous monument depicting the Ten Commandments and the renegade judge who wants to keep it on display in an Alabama courthouse.

The court quietly rejected appeals from suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who had argued that the monument properly acknowledges "God as the source of the community morality so essential to a self-governing society."

Moore was suspended as chief justice for defying a federal court order to remove the monument. He goes on trial before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary on Nov. 12 on face judicial ethics charges for his refusal to comply with the order.

The Supreme Court's action is not a ruling on the thorny question of whether the Ten Commandments may be displayed in government buildings or in the public square. It merely reflects the high court's unwillingness to hear the appeal.

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