Judicial panel rejects bias complaint against justice

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A judicial panel has dismissed a bias complaint against state Chief Justice Roy Moore, who called homosexuality an "inherent evil" in ruling that a lesbian was an unfit mother.

The gay rights group Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund had filed a petition alleging Moore's comments showed he could not be an impartial judge.

The statement issued Thursday by the Judicial Inquiry Commission said it "found no reasonable basis to charge a violation of the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics."

The Supreme Court on Feb. 15 gave custody of three teen-agers to their father in Birmingham instead of their mother -- a lesbian who lives with her partner in California.

Moore, writing for the court, said the mother's relationship made her an unfit parent and that homosexuality is "abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature."

Moore's attorney, Stephen Melchior, said the panel "did the right thing" in clearing the chief justice, a conservative Christian best known for hanging a plaque of the Ten Commandments in court.

A lawyer for the gay rights group, Ruth Harlow, said the commission sent the group a letter saying it does not act against judges for statements made in opinions unless there is evidence of "ill will."

"We don't agree with the explanation," she said.

As a circuit judge in Etowah County, Moore in 1996 cited homosexuality in refusing to award a lesbian custody of her children. An appeals court later ordered him to step aside from the case after the woman complained Moore couldn't be fair because of his religious beliefs.