Roy Moore

Education and military service Moore was born in Gadsden, Alabama, the seat of Etowah County, to construction worker Roy Baxter Moore, who died in 1967, and Evelyn Stewart. He is the oldest of five children, and grew up with two brothers and two sisters. In 1954, the family relocated to Houston, Texas, the site of a postwar building boom. After about four years, they returned to Alabama, then moved to Pennsylvania, and then returned permanently to Alabama. His father worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority, first building dams and later the Anniston Army Depot. Moore attended his freshman year of high school at Gallant near Gadsden, and transferred to Etowah County High School for his final three years, graduating in 1965. He graduated in 1969 with a Bachelor of Science degree. With the Vietnam War underway, Moore served in several posts as a military police officer, including Fort Benning, Georgia, and Illesheim, West Germany, before being deployed to South Vietnam. Serving as the commander of 188th Military Police Company of the 504th Military Police Battalion, Moore was perceived to be reckless, but very strict. He insisted that his troops salute him on the battlefield, despite official training which discourages such behavior because salutes can identify an officer to enemy targeting. He graduated in 1977 with a Juris Doctor degree and returned to Gadsden. Elections and travels Moore soon moved to the district attorney's office, working as the first full-time prosecutor in Etowah County. During his tenure there, Moore was investigated by the state bar for "suspect conduct" after convening a grand jury to examine what he perceived to have been funding shortages in the sheriff's office. Several weeks after the state bar investigation was dismissed as unfounded, Moore quit his prosecuting position to run as a Democrat for the county's circuit-court judge seat in 1982. The election was bitter, with Moore alleging that cases were being delayed in exchange for payoffs. The allegations were never substantiated. Moore overwhelmingly lost the Democratic runoff primary to fellow attorney Donald Stewart, whom Moore described as "an honorable man for whom I have much respect, (who) eventually became a close friend". In Australia, a country Moore said later he had wanted to visit after his service in Vietnam but was unable to at the time, he went to Queensland. From the state capital, Brisbane, he first went to Ayr and helped with the sugar cane harvest, then inland to what is now the Central Highlands Region, where he fulfilled his longtime desire to see the Outback, eventually working at the Telemon ranch near Springsure, a town where many residents are devout Christians. One of them, the Rolfe family, ran Telemon, and spoke highly of Moore to The Guardian in 2017, "I don't think he'd ever done that sort of manual labor in his life," said Isla Turner, daughter of Colin Rolfe, who had taken Moore in, "but he took to it like a duck to water". Moore married Kayla Kisor in December 1985. In 1992, Moore switched his affiliation to the Republican Party. == Judicial career ==

Circuit Judge (1992–2000) Appointment In 1992, Etowah County circuit judge Julius Swann died in office. Republican governor H. Guy Hunt was charged with making an appointment until the next election. Moore's name was floated by some of his associates, and a background check was initiated with several state and county agencies, including the Etowah County district attorney's office. Moore's former political opponent Jimmy Hedgspeth, who still helmed the D.A.'s office, recommended Moore despite personal reservations, and Moore was installed in the position he had failed to win in 1982. Moore told the Montgomery Advertiser that his intention in hanging the plaque was to fill up the bare space on the courtroom walls and to indicate the importance of the Ten Commandments. He stated that it was not his intention to generate controversy. He told The Atlantic that he understood the potential for controversy existed, but "I wanted to establish the moral foundation of our law." While Moore presided over a murder case shortly after his appointment, the defendant's attorney objected to the plaque. This attracted the attention of critics who also objected to Moore's practice of opening court sessions with a prayer beseeching divine guidance for jurors in their deliberations. In at least one case, Moore asked a clergyman to lead the court's jury pool in prayer. The local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sent a letter in June 1993 threatening a lawsuit if such prayers did not cease. On June 20, 1994, the ACLU sent a representative to Moore's courtroom to observe and record the pre-session prayer. Although the organization did not immediately file suit, Moore decried the action as an "act of intimidation" in a post-trial press conference. The incident drew additional attention to Moore while he was campaigning to hold onto his circuit court seat. In that year's election, Moore won the seat in a landslide victory over attorney Keith Pitts, who had unsuccessfully prosecuted the "Silk and Satin" murder case. Lawsuit In March 1995, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against Moore, stating that the pre-court session prayers and the Ten Commandments display were both unconstitutional. This original lawsuit was eventually dismissed for technical reasons, but Governor Fob James instructed state attorney general Bill Pryor to file suit in Montgomery County in support of Moore. The case was tried before state circuit judge Charles Price, who in 1996 declared the prayers unconstitutional but initially allowed the Ten Commandments plaque to remain on the courtroom walls. Immediately after the ruling, Moore held a press conference vowing to defy the ruling against pre-session prayers and affirming a religious intent in displaying the plaque. Critics responded by asking Price to reconsider his previous ruling, and the judge issued a new ruling requiring the Ten Commandments plaque to be removed in ten days. Moore appealed Price's decision and kept the plaque up; ten days later the Supreme Court of Alabama issued a temporary stay against the ruling. The Court never ruled in the case, throwing it out for technical reasons in 1998. The crowning element would be two large carved tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. High-grade granite from Vermont was ordered and shipped, and Moore found benefactors and a sculptor to complete the job. Moore's actions were made without the consent or knowledge of the eight associate justices. , erected in 2001 On the evening of July 31, 2001, Moore had the completed monument transported to the building and installed in the rotunda. Videotapes of this event were sold by Coral Ridge Ministries, an evangelical media outlet in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which later used proceeds from the sales of the tapes to underwrite Moore's ensuing legal expenses. The next morning, Moore held a press conference in the rotunda to publicly unveil the monument. In a speech following the unveiling, Moore declared, "Today a cry has gone out across our land for the acknowledgment of that God upon whom this nation and our laws were founded ... May this day mark the restoration of the moral foundation of law to our people and the return to the knowledge of God in our land." Federal lawsuit On October 30, 2001, the ACLU of Alabama, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Southern Poverty Law Center were among groups that filed suit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, asking that the monument be removed because it "sends a message to all who enter the Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building that the government encourages and endorses the practice of religion in general and Judeo-Christianity in particular". The trial, titled Glassroth v. Moore, began on October 15, 2002. Evidence for the plaintiffs included testimony that lawyers of different religious beliefs had changed their work practices, including routinely avoiding visiting the court building to avoid passing by the monument, and testimony that the monument created a religious atmosphere, with many people using the area for prayer. Moore argued that he would not remove the monument, as doing so would violate his oath of office: [The monument] serves to remind the Appellate Courts and judges of the Circuit and District Court of this State and members of the bar who appear before them, as well as the people of Alabama who visit the [Heflin-Torbet Judicial Building], of the truth stated in the Preamble to the Alabama Constitution that in order to establish justice we must invoke 'the favor and guidance of almighty God'. However, in Moore's view this did not violate the doctrine of separation of church and state; as the presiding judge later summarized it, Moore argued "the Judeo-Christian God reigned over both the church and the state in this country, and that both owed allegiance to that God," although they must keep their affairs separate. Protests and monument removal On August 14, Moore announced his intention to defy Judge Thompson's order to have the monument removed. Two days later, large rallies in support of Moore and the Ten Commandments monument formed in front of the judicial building, featuring speakers such as Alan Keyes, the Reverend Jerry Falwell, and Moore himself. The crowd peaked at an estimated count of 4,000 that day, and anywhere from several hundred to over a thousand protesters remained through the end of August. The time limit for removal expired on August 20, with the monument still in place in the building's rotunda. As specified in Judge Thompson's order, the state of Alabama faced fines of $5,000 a day until the monument was removed. In response, the eight other members of the Alabama Supreme Court intervened on August 21, unanimously overruled Moore, and ordered the removal of the monument. Moore said that Thompson, "fearing that I would not obey his order, decided to threaten other state officials and force them to remove the monument if I did not do so. A threat of heavy fines was his way of coercing obedience to that order," an action that Moore saw as a violation of the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution. The monument was not immediately removed from the building for several reasons – pending legal hearings, the monument's weight, worries that the monument could break through the floor if it was taken outside intact, and a desire to avoid confrontation with protesters massed outside the structure. The monument was not actually removed from the state judicial building until July 19, 2004. Removal from office On August 22, 2003, two days after the deadline for the Ten Commandments monument's removal had passed, the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC) filed a complaint with the Alabama Court of the Judiciary (COJ), a panel of judges, lawyers and others appointed variously by judges, legal leaders, the governor and the lieutenant governor. The complaint effectively suspended Moore from the chief justice position pending a hearing by the COJ. The COJ ethics hearing was held on November 12, 2003. Moore repeated his earlier sentiment that "to acknowledge God cannot be a violation of the Canons of Ethics. Without God there can be no ethics." He also acknowledged that he would repeat his defiance of the court order if given another opportunity to do so, and that if he returned to office, "I certainly wouldn't leave [the monument] in a closet, shrouded from the public." In closing arguments, the assistant attorney general said Moore's defiance, left unchecked, "undercuts the entire workings of the judicial system ... What message does that send to the public, to other litigants? The message it sends is: If you don't like a court order, you don't have to follow it." The next day, the COJ issued a unanimous opinion ruling that "Chief Justice Moore has violated the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics as alleged by the JIC in its complaint." The COJ had several disciplinary options, including censure or suspension without pay, but because Moore's responses had indicated he would defy any similar court orders in the future, the COJ concluded that "under these circumstances, there is no penalty short of removal from office that would resolve this issue." Moore appealed the COJ's ruling to the Supreme Court of Alabama on December 10, 2003. A special panel of retired judges and justices was randomly selected to hear the case. Moore argued that the COJ did not consider the underlying legality of the federal courts' order that the monument be removed from the courthouse. The Alabama Supreme Court rejected this argument, saying that the COJ did not have the authority to overrule the federal courts, only to determine whether Moore violated the Canons of Judicial Ethics. Therefore, the Court reasoned, it was enough to show that a procedurally-valid order was in place against Moore. Moore also argued that the COJ had imposed a religious test on him to hold his office, and that the COJ's actions had violated his own rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court of Alabama rejected each of these arguments as well, and ruled on April 30, 2004, that the COJ had acted properly. The court also upheld the sanction of removal as appropriate. In the November 2012 general election, Moore defeated the Democratic nominee, Jefferson County circuit judge Bob Vance, and returned to the bench. Moore received 913,021 votes, to Vance's 850,816 votes. Views on same-sex marriage On January 28, 2015, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a judicial ethics complaint against Moore, stating that he had publicly commented on pending same-sex marriage cases and encouraged state officials and judges to ignore federal court rulings overturning bans on same-sex marriage. Moore issued an order to probate judges and their employees on February 8, the day before a federal court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in Alabama was set to take effect, ordering them to disregard the ruling and enforce the state's ban under threat of legal action by the governor. On February 9, after the United States Supreme Court allowed the federal court ruling to take effect, probate judges in Birmingham, Montgomery, and Huntsville disobeyed Moore and issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples. On January 6, 2016, after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges the previous June, Moore issued an administrative order to lower court judges stating, "until further decision by the Alabama Supreme Court, the existing orders of the Alabama Supreme Court that Alabama probate judges have a ministerial duty not to issue any marriage license contrary to the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment or the Alabama Marriage Protection Act remain in full force and effect." 2016 suspension from the bench and resignation On May 6, 2016, the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC) forwarded a list of six charges of ethical violations by Moore to the Alabama Court of the Judiciary. Moore was suspended from the Alabama Supreme Court pending trial and ruling. Moore faced removal from office over the charges, which were more serious than those which removed him from office in 2003. The JIC's complaint charged Moore with violating the Alabama Canon of Judicial Ethics by: On August 4, the federal district court dismissed Moore's suit, ruling that under the abstention doctrine, federal courts generally do not interfere with ongoing state court proceedings. Suspension by the Court of the Judiciary In June 2016, Moore filed a motion to dismiss the JIC proceedings, arguing, among other things, that the JIC and Alabama Court of the Judiciary lacked jurisdiction to review administrative orders that he issued and that the orders of the Alabama Supreme Court were still in effect from the Alabama Policy Institute proceedings prohibiting the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses by probate judges in Alabama, despite the rulings in Obergefell v. Hodges issued by the U.S. Supreme Court, Searcy v. Strange, Strawser v. Strange, and the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which held that the orders were abrogated by Obergefell. The Court of the Judiciary set a hearing date for the motion to dismiss and ruled that it would be treated as a motion for summary judgment pertaining to the charges filed by the JIC. The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT rights group, responded: "It is clear that Roy Moore not only believes he is above the law, he believes he is above judicial ethics ... Moore was tasked with upholding the law of the land when marriage equality was affirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States, and he defied that task, in the process harming loving, committed same-sex couples across Alabama for his own personal, discriminatory reasons." In July 2016, the JIC filed a cross-motion for summary judgment, asking the Court of the Judiciary to issue summary judgment removing Moore from the bench. Attorneys for the JIC wrote: "Because the chief justice has proven – and promised – that he will not change his behavior, he has left this Court with no choice but to remove him from office to preserve the integrity, independence, impartiality of Alabama's judiciary and the citizens who depend on it for justice." In their reply, Moore (through his attorneys at Liberty Counsel) denied that Moore had directed Alabama's probate judges to disobey an injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, asserting that the orders of the Alabama Supreme Court, which required Alabama's probate judges to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples, were still in effect. Moore argued that his January 6 administrative order was mischaracterized by the JIC, despite the fact that the January 6 order stated "Until further decision by the Alabama Supreme Court, the existing orders of the Alabama Supreme Court that Alabama probate judges have a ministerial duty not to issue any marriage license contrary to the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment or the Alabama Marriage Protection Act remain in full force and effect." At an August 2016 hearing before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary on the motions to dismiss and for summary judgment, Moore's attorneys continued to assert that Moore did not order probate judges to disobey the injunction issued by the U.S. District Court or the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. The attorney for the JIC responded that Moore's argument "defies common sense" and said that Moore was defying a federal court order, just as he did in 2003, and should be immediately removed from office. The Alabama Court of the Judiciary subsequently denied both Moore's motion and the JIC motion and set a trial date. On September 30, 2016, Moore was found guilty of all six charges and suspended for the remainder of his term, slated to end in 2019. In its 50-page order, the Court of the Judiciary stated it did not find credible Moore's claim that the purpose for the January 6 order was "merely to provide a 'status update' to the state's probate judges". Appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court and resignation In October 2016, Moore filed a notice of appeal with the Court of the Judiciary appealing his suspension and the final judgment to the Alabama Supreme Court. Among other claims, Moore contended that neither the JIC nor the COJ had jurisdiction to investigate and punish him for his issuance of the Administrative Order of January 6, 2016; that the six charges against him had not been proven by clear and convincing evidence, and that by "suspending him" without pay for the remainder of his term, the COJ had effectively removed him from office without unanimous agreement of the COJ, as required under Alabama law. Pending the appeal, Moore refused to clean out his office. The Alabama Supreme Court randomly selected seven retired judges to review the appeal of Moore's suspension, Governor Robert Bentley issued an executive order formally appointing the special Supreme Court of these seven retired justices to hear Moore's appeal from the decision of the COJ that suspended him from the bench for the remainder of his term. In December 2016, Moore – represented by the group Liberty Counsel – filed his appeal brief with the special Alabama Supreme Court. Eight current and retired Alabama judges filed an amicus brief in support of Moore, asserting in their filings that Moore's suspension was, in fact, a removal from office and contrary to Alabama law since it required unanimous agreement of the COJ, despite the fact the COJ did unanimously agree in their final judgment to suspend Moore for the remainder of his term. At Moore's request, oral argument was canceled to speed up the proceedings, and the special Supreme Court agreed to rule on the case based on the written submissions of the parties. On April 20, the special Supreme Court upheld Moore's suspension. In its opinion, the special Supreme Court ruled that all of the JIC's charges against Moore were supported by clear and convincing evidence. The Court also ruled that it did not have authority to rescind the sanctions imposed on Moore because the charges were amply supported by clear and convincing evidence, and that the JIC was unanimous in their decision to suspend Moore for the remainder of his term. Six days following the court's ruling, Moore resigned from the Alabama Supreme Court. He then announced he would be running for the United States Senate. == Foundation for Moral Law ==

Moore founded the nonprofit Christian legal organization Foundation for Moral Law in 2002. Moore's wife, Kayla, is the president of the Foundation for Moral Law. In 2005, Moore's Foundation for Moral Law accepted a $1,000 contribution from a neo-Nazi organization founded by Willis Carto, a prominent Holocaust denier. The donation attracted attention during Moore's 2017 campaign for a Senate seat. Undisclosed salary payment controversy Moore stated that he did not draw a "regular salary" from the organization. In October 2017, however, The Washington Post reported that Moore had arranged an annual salary of $180,000 for himself from the foundation. From 2007 to 2012, he collected more than $1 million, an amount far surpassing the nonprofit's declarations in its public tax filings, because of what the Post called "errors and gaps in the group's federal tax filings". == Election issues and campaigns ==

2004 Moore considered running for the nomination of the Republican Party and the Constitution Party in the 2004 presidential election. Despite encouragement from several corners, Moore did not pursue the nomination. In 2004, along with Herb Titus, Moore was an original drafter of the Constitution Restoration Act, which sought to remove federal courts' jurisdiction over a government official or entity's "acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government", and provided for the impeachment of judges who failed to do so. The bill was introduced in both houses of Congress in 2004 and then reintroduced in 2005, but languished in committee both times. 2006 In October 2005, Moore announced that he would run against Governor Bob Riley in the 2006 Republican gubernatorial primary. Moore's campaign relied largely on his popularity among Christian right voters. However, Moore consistently performed poorly in polling and in fundraising. Following such a major defeat, Moore accused Alabama Republican Party chair Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh of bias towards Riley and called on her to resign; he also criticized President Bush for praising Riley's administration. His criticism of the state Republican Party was so harsh that he eventually had to call a press conference to quell rumors that he would run as an independent if he lost the Republican primary. In his concession speech, Moore told supporters that "God's will has been done." Moore did not call Riley to concede and refused to support Riley in the general election because of Riley's acceptance of campaign contributions from political action committees. In the first round of the June 2010 Republican primary election, Moore came in fourth place with 19.3% of the vote, behind Bradley Byrne (27.9%), Robert J. Bentley (25.2%), and Tim James (25.1%). 2012 On April 18, 2011, Moore announced that he was forming an exploratory committee to run in the Republican presidential primaries in 2012. When that campaign failed to gain traction, he began to draw speculation in the media as being a potential Constitution Party presidential contender. In November 2011, Moore withdrew his exploratory committee and ended all speculation of a presidential candidacy when he instead announced that he would in 2012 seek his former post of chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. On November 6, 2012, Moore won election back to the office of Alabama chief justice, defeating replacement Democratic candidate Bob Vance. 2017 On April 26, 2017, Moore, who had been suspended from the Alabama Supreme Court since September 2016, stated that he had submitted retirement papers and would resign as chief justice in order to run for the U.S. Senate seat vacated earlier by Jeff Sessions, who left the Senate to become U.S. attorney general. Governor Robert J. Bentley appointed Luther Strange to fill the vacancy, and Strange also sought the Republican nomination in the special election. Republican U.S. Senate primary On August 15, 2017, Moore and Strange advanced to the primary runoff after Moore finished first with 38.9% of the vote to Strange's 32.8%. President Donald Trump reluctantly supported Moore's opponent Strange during the primary, dispensing with traditional presidential caution in becoming involved with contested primaries, and almost the whole national Republican establishment wanted Strange to win. Trump's efforts on behalf of Strange included a series of tweets, and a rally in Alabama, where he admitted that he "might have made a mistake" in his endorsement of Strange and emphasized repeatedly that he would support Moore if he won, but still urged voters to vote for Strange. Moore was outspent in the runoff by a margin of 10-to-1, thanks in part to the efforts of Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell. On September 26, 2017, Moore defeated Strange in the Republican primary runoff election to become the Republican nominee. This marked the first time since 2010 that an insurgent defeated an incumbent U.S. Senator having active White House support. The percentages were 54.6% for Moore to 45.4% for Strange. Moore turned down debate invitations extended by the League of Women Voters and WHNT-TV and AL.com. Moore said that he refused to debate Jones because of Jones's "very liberal stance on transgenderism and transgenderism in the military and in bathrooms". In early November, when sexual misconduct allegations against Moore were reported, many Republicans at the national level called for Moore to drop out of the race or withdrew their endorsements of him. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan said he should step aside, as did U.S. Senator John McCain and former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Other senators withdrew their endorsements of Moore's Senate candidacy. President Donald Trump initially said Moore should step aside if the charges were true, but otherwise expressed support for Moore. Trump later formally endorsed Moore. Alabama Republicans largely defended Moore from the accusations; an exception was Richard Shelby, the state's U.S. senator since 1987, who said two days before the election the accusations against Moore were "believable" and that "Alabama deserves better." He said he wrote in the name of another Republican on his absentee ballot. The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) temporarily withdrew funding from his campaign. A week before the election, Trump strongly endorsed Moore. Just four days before the election, Trump appeared at a rally in Pensacola, Florida, near the border of Alabama, and again endorsed Moore. During a campaign speech in Florence, Alabama, in 2017, Moore decried racial divisions plaguing the United States, stating: "Now we have blacks and whites fighting, reds and yellows fighting, Democrats and Republicans fighting, men and women fighting. What's going to unite us? What's going to bring us back together? A president? A Congress? No. It's going to be God." Moore's reference to "reds" and "yellows" was criticized as racially insensitive. Moore's campaign responded, stating that his statement was based on the religious song "Jesus Loves the Little Children". In the same speech, when a spectator asked when Moore thought America was last great, Moore responded: "I think it was great at the time when families were united. Even though we had slavery, they cared for one another. ... Our families were strong, our country had a direction." In the December 12 election, Moore lost to Jones, who received 671,151 votes (49.9%) to Moore's 650,436 votes (48.4%). Moore refused to concede despite Trump, Bannon, and others urging him to do so. A number of right-leaning websites pushed conspiracy theories about voter fraud providing the margin for Jones. Alabama secretary of state John Merrill told The Washington Post that the result would be certified on December 28, 2017. In cases where the margin is greater than 0.5 percent, either candidate can request a recount at his or her expense. However, Merrill estimated that a recount could cost anywhere from $1 million to $1.5 million, an amount that must be paid in full when the request is made. Moore had only $636,046 on hand by the time the campaign ended. On December 28, Merrill and Alabama governor Kay Ivey certified the results of the senatorial election despite a last-minute lawsuit from the Moore campaign (rejected by a state judge) seeking a new election on the grounds of voter fraud. Moore became the first Republican to lose a statewide race in Alabama since Republican Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh lost the 2008 president of the Alabama Public Service Commission election to Democratic former lieutenant governor Lucy Baxley. Moore was the first Republican to lose a United States Senate election in Alabama since Richard Sellers in 1992. Jones became the first Democrat to gain a Senate seat since Richard Shelby defeated incumbent Republican Jeremiah Denton in 1986 in a similarly narrow election, though Shelby joined the Republican Party eight years later. Jones also became the first Democrat to represent Alabama in the United States Senate since Howell Heflin's retirement in 1997. In April 2018, Moore filed a lawsuit in Etowah County alleging "there was a political conspiracy against him in the 2017 special election". The former was filed against sexual misconduct accusers that came to prominence during the election. Most of its claims were dismissed in 2022. 2020 Moore announced on June 20, 2019, that he would challenge Doug Jones once again for his Senate seat in the 2020 election. He failed to earn the Republican party nomination, receiving only 7.2% of the vote in the primary election. == Political positions ==

According to Business Insider, Moore has a "history of far-right and conspiracy-aligned positions" on issues such as homosexuality, race, Islam, and terrorism. According to CNN, Moore's "virulent anti-gay, right-wing views made him a national figure". According to The New York Times, Moore "is a staunch evangelical Christian, and his often-inflammatory political beliefs are informed by his strongly held religious views". Moore has been considered a "rising star of the alt-right movement" by The Jerusalem Post and an "alt-right hero" by The Washington Post. Abortion Moore is strongly anti-abortion. In a 2014 Supreme Court ruling, he said that laws should protect life "from the moment of conception". He seeks to defund Planned Parenthood. American exceptionalism Moore has been skeptical of modern American exceptionalism, saying that "America promotes a lot of bad things." Moore argued that the United States is an "Evil Empire" comparable to the Soviet Union, saying that America is "the focus of evil in the modern world". When asked for a clarification, Moore gave an example of America culturally exporting acceptance of homosexuality around the world. "Birther" movement and other conspiracy theories Moore was a leading proponent of the birther movement, the debunked conspiracy theory postulating that Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen. He repeatedly promoted the conspiracy theory from 2008 and through to at least December 2016. Asked if he still questioned Obama's citizenship in August 2017, the Moore campaign declined to answer questions from the media. As chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, he opined that Alabama's secretary of state should "investigate the qualifications of those candidates who appeared on the 2012 general-election ballot". Moore has also suggested, without providing any evidence, that former president Barack Obama is secretly a Muslim. Church and state Because of his focus on religion in politics, he has earned the nickname of 'Ayatollah of Alabama' among his critics. The speech prompted criticism because it appeared to suggest that non-Christians did not enjoy religious protections under the First Amendment. In a subsequent interview, Moore said that the First Amendment protects all faiths: "It applies to the rights God gave us to be free in our modes of thinking, and as far as religious liberty to all people, regardless of what they believe." Civil rights Moore was a strong opponent of a proposed amendment to the Alabama Constitution in 2004. Known as Amendment 2, the proposed legislation would have removed wording from the state constitution that referred to poll taxes and required separate schools for "white and colored children", a practice already outlawed due to civil rights-era legislation during the Civil Rights Movement. Moore and other opponents of the measure argued that the amendment's wording would have allowed federal judges to force the state to fund public school improvements with increased taxes. Voters in Alabama narrowly defeated the proposed amendment, with a margin of 1,850 votes out of 1.38 million cast. Moore's opposition has been cited as a reason for the failure of the referendum. In 2011, Moore said on Aroostook Watchmen, a right-wing conspiracy radio show that getting rid of all the constitutional amendments after the Tenth Amendment would "eliminate many problems". Confederacy Neo-Confederate groups held events at the Foundation for Moral Law, a foundation led by Moore, in 2009 and 2010. The events "promoted a history of the Civil War sympathetic to the Confederate cause, in which the conflict is presented as one fought over the federal government violating the South's sovereignty as opposed to one fought chiefly over the preservation of slavery". Evolution Moore rejects the theory of evolution, saying "There is no such thing as evolution. That we came from a snake? No, I don't believe that." Free speech In an October 2017 interview with Time, Moore said regarding NFL players who protested police violence by kneeling during the playing of the national anthem: "It's against the law, you know that? It was a [sic] act of Congress that every man stand and put their hand over their heart. That's the law." This assertion is incorrect assuming Moore was calling for enforcement; for civilians, the United States Flag Code, which outlines proper conduct when the national anthem is played, is an advisory description of proper etiquette, not an enforceable law. The US Flag Code does not reference standing for the national anthem. Trade When asked whether he approved of free trade, Moore stated that he supported protectionism. Moore has suggested pulling out of various free trade agreements, saying that he would rescind "unfair free trade agreements which have severely damaged our economy". Immigration In July 2017, Moore stated that he was unfamiliar with what the Dreamer program was. He believes that homosexuality goes against "the laws of nature" and stated it is comparable to bestiality. Moore wrote in his ruling, "The court strongly feels that the minor children will be detrimentally affected by the present lifestyle of [Mrs. Borden] who has engaged in a homosexual relationship during her marriage, forbidden both by the laws of the State of Alabama and the Laws of Nature." In a concurring opinion in the case, Moore stated that a parent's homosexuality should be a deciding factor in determining which parent gets custody over children: "Homosexual behavior is a ground for divorce, an act of sexual misconduct punishable as a crime in Alabama, a crime against nature, an inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies one's ability to describe it. That is enough under the law to allow a court to consider such activity harmful to a child." In 2016, Moore was suspended from the Alabama Supreme Court for instructing state probate judges to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples, in contravention of Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the U.S. Supreme Court determined that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. In 2017, Moore called for impeaching judges who have issued rulings supportive of homosexuality and same-sex marriage. The Dred Scott ruling is widely considered as the worst Supreme Court ruling. In November 2017, Moore said that transgender people "don't have rights". Moore has also said that suffering in the United States may be because "we legitimize sodomy" and "legitimize abortion". Opposition to Islam Moore has called for banning Muslims from serving in Congress, described Islam as a "false religion" and made unsubstantiated claims about Sharia law in the United States. Asked if it was not an amazing claim for a Senate candidate to make, Moore said "Well, let me just put it this way – if they are, they are; if they're not, they're not." Vladimir Putin and Russia interference Moore has praised Russian president Vladimir Putin, stating that he is maybe "more akin to me than I know". When asked whether he believed that Russia interfered in the 2016 United States elections, Moore stated, "Everybody else thinks it's the Russians. I think it was the providential hand of God." ==Sexual misconduct allegations==

In November 2017, during Moore's U.S. Senate campaign, nine women accused him of inappropriate sexual or social conduct. Three of the women said they had been sexually assaulted by Moore when they were aged 14, 16, and 28. Independent witnesses confirmed that Moore had a reputation for approaching teenage girls, often at a local mall, and asking them out. Moore has offered contradictory responses on whether he knew his accusers. He had said on November 10 that he did "recognize" the maiden names of Debbie Wesson Gibson and Gloria Thacker Deason (both Gibson and Deason had alleged that Moore had dated them when they were 17–18) and remembered each "as a good girl". Regarding if he had dated Gibson, Moore said "I can't recall the specific dates because that's been 40 years." On November 27 and 29, Moore took a different stance, repeatedly stating "I do not know any of these women" while also saying that "pictures of young children – whose names are not mentioned and I do not know – appear conveniently on the opposition's ads ... These allegations are completely false." Following the allegations, Moore appeared as a guest on Sacha Baron Cohen's 2018 comedy series Who Is America? in which Baron Cohen, disguised as Israeli anti-terrorism expert Erran Morad, demonstrates new "technology", supposedly developed by the Israeli Army to identify pedophiles. Moore walked out of the interview after the device repeatedly indicated he was a pedophile. In September 2018, Moore filed a lawsuit against Baron Cohen, Showtime, and CBS Corporation seeking $95 million in damages for alleged fraud, defamation, and emotional distress. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and argued that the consent agreement signed by Moore was "obtained through fraud" and was therefore "void and inoperative." In October 2018, Showtime moved for a change of venue to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Despite the consent agreement specifying that any disputes be dealt with in a New York court, Moore's legal team opposed the change in venue, describing the move as "purely tactical, as they clearly perceive New York to a more favorable forum, where they will more than likely find a favorable left-leaning, pro-entertainment industry judge." Moore's legal team also contended that he had been "fraudulently induced" to appear on the show by two primary misrepresentations: Firstly, that Moore was under the impression that he was being flown to Washington D.C. to receive an award for his support of Israel; and, secondly, that he was told that the segment was being produced by an Israeli production company named Yerushalayim TV. This decision was upheld in July 2022, with the appeals court writing in its unsigned summary order that "Baron Cohen may have implied (despite his in character disclaimers of any belief that Judge Moore was a pedophile) that he believed Judge Moore's accusers, but he did not imply the existence of any independent factual basis for that belief besides the obviously farcical pedophile detecting 'device,' which no reasonable person could believe to be an actual, functioning piece of technology." Responding to the judgement, Moore told the Associated Press that Baron Cohen's "pusillanimous and fraudulent conduct must be stopped," and that he will be making a further appeal. In August 2022, Moore was awarded $8.2 million by a jury from Anniston, Alabama, in a defamation lawsuit against a Democratic-aligned super PAC over their use of the allegations in advertisements. Lawyers for the PAC stated that they will appeal the decision. == Personal life ==

He is a Baptist Christian, a member of the Gallant First Baptist Church. Marriage and children Moore first saw his future wife, Kayla Kisor, when she was in her mid-teens performing at a dance recital. Moore was 31 at the time. In his 2005 autobiography, Moore described his reaction, writing: "I knew Kayla was going to be a special person in my life." In 1984, Moore and Kayla Kisor Heald met again at a Christmas party but she was then a married mother. She filed for divorce from her first husband on December 28, 1984, and was divorced on April 19, 1985. Moore married Kayla on December 14, 1985. He was 38, she was 24. They have four adult children. Columnist Moore wrote weekly columns for the far-right website WorldNetDaily from 2006 to 2009. == Electoral history ==

;2000 Alabama Supreme Court election, Chief Justice ;2006 Alabama gubernatorial election ;2010 Alabama gubernatorial election ;2012 Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court election ;2017 United States Senate special election in Alabama ;2020 United States Senate election in Alabama == See also ==