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CNN Live Today
Montgomery Protestors Still at Building, Filing Another Lawsuit
Aired August 28, 2003 - 10:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Comparisons to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s efforts are echoing in Alabama, one of the most volatile battlegrounds of the civil rights era. Well, the subject of comparisons today, the state's chief justice, who was suspended for refusing to remove his courthouse monument of the Ten Commandments. The granite marker this week was removed after being in place in the state's Judicial Building for two years. Still, the legal battles remain.
CNN's Brian Cabell is in Montgomery with the very latest on what I imagine is already a gathering place for a rally just happening in moments -- Brian.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, Fredricka.
The demonstrators are out again this morning. A couple dozen spent the night here again last night. They're somewhat fewer than they were yesterday, I'd say about a hundred, but it is growing. Yesterday at this time there were probably a couple hundred.
But a number of news cameras have gone home, satellite trucks, a few of them left overnight. Still, supporters here hope to keep this vigil alive for at least into the weekend, even though the monument itself left 24 hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CABELL (voice-over): Symbolically, the move of the monument was huge. But practically speaking, it wasn't much at all. A handful of men with a pallet jack needed only about an hour to remove the controversial monument from the rotunda.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring it back, Lord, please, God. Don't abandon us, God.
CABELL: A defeat, perhaps, for the protesters who had gathered outside the courthouse for the last week. But now many of them say this is a political issue. They want the president to take a stand.
RANDALL TERRY, SOCIETY FOR TRUTH & JUSTICE: You know what? President Bush is a man of conviction and my prayer is that he won't let his handlers make this decision, he'll let his conscience make the decision.
CABELL: The monument's cause, led by Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, has drawn protesters from all across the nation. His contention, and theirs, is that the Ten Commandments form the foundation of American law and therefore belong in a courthouse.
Not so, say the critics.
RICHARD COHEN, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: We try to keep government's hands off religion in order to keep religion safe in this country. Religion in America flourishes not because the government's involved, but because it's uninvolved, and that's the way it should be.
CABELL: For now, many of the protesters remain. Rallies are planned in the days ahead. And the monument, a centerpiece for so long, now sits in a back room at the Judicial Building, out of the public eye.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABELL: Protesters have a couple of plans for this afternoon. First of all, there will be a rally here noon time Central Time. Chief Justice Roy Moore was expected to appear here. We've been told he has a scheduling conflict. He will not be here.
Then at 1:00 Central Time there will be a filing, a refiling of a lawsuit in district court here in Montgomery, an attempt once again to get the monument back into public view -- back to you.
WHITFIELD: And, Brian, you mentioned in your piece that that monument is in a back room, but it has not been removed from the building altogether. What's the next plan for this monument?
CABELL: Well, we're speculating perhaps they're keeping it inside this building just in case there is a decision to put it back. But we don't know. It belongs to Justice Roy Moore. It's his personal possession. It's in a back room out of public view. If, by some chance, they decide to move it back into public view, it would be very easy. Or they could just pull it out of here some time in the indefinite future and it would go into his possession at that point to be on public view maybe somewhere else, at his home. We don't -- we simply don't know at this point.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much, Brian Cabell from Montgomery, Alabama.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Lawsuit>
Aired August 28, 2003 - 10:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Comparisons to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s efforts are echoing in Alabama, one of the most volatile battlegrounds of the civil rights era. Well, the subject of comparisons today, the state's chief justice, who was suspended for refusing to remove his courthouse monument of the Ten Commandments. The granite marker this week was removed after being in place in the state's Judicial Building for two years. Still, the legal battles remain.
CNN's Brian Cabell is in Montgomery with the very latest on what I imagine is already a gathering place for a rally just happening in moments -- Brian.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, Fredricka.
The demonstrators are out again this morning. A couple dozen spent the night here again last night. They're somewhat fewer than they were yesterday, I'd say about a hundred, but it is growing. Yesterday at this time there were probably a couple hundred.
But a number of news cameras have gone home, satellite trucks, a few of them left overnight. Still, supporters here hope to keep this vigil alive for at least into the weekend, even though the monument itself left 24 hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CABELL (voice-over): Symbolically, the move of the monument was huge. But practically speaking, it wasn't much at all. A handful of men with a pallet jack needed only about an hour to remove the controversial monument from the rotunda.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring it back, Lord, please, God. Don't abandon us, God.
CABELL: A defeat, perhaps, for the protesters who had gathered outside the courthouse for the last week. But now many of them say this is a political issue. They want the president to take a stand.
RANDALL TERRY, SOCIETY FOR TRUTH & JUSTICE: You know what? President Bush is a man of conviction and my prayer is that he won't let his handlers make this decision, he'll let his conscience make the decision.
CABELL: The monument's cause, led by Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, has drawn protesters from all across the nation. His contention, and theirs, is that the Ten Commandments form the foundation of American law and therefore belong in a courthouse.
Not so, say the critics.
RICHARD COHEN, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: We try to keep government's hands off religion in order to keep religion safe in this country. Religion in America flourishes not because the government's involved, but because it's uninvolved, and that's the way it should be.
CABELL: For now, many of the protesters remain. Rallies are planned in the days ahead. And the monument, a centerpiece for so long, now sits in a back room at the Judicial Building, out of the public eye.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABELL: Protesters have a couple of plans for this afternoon. First of all, there will be a rally here noon time Central Time. Chief Justice Roy Moore was expected to appear here. We've been told he has a scheduling conflict. He will not be here.
Then at 1:00 Central Time there will be a filing, a refiling of a lawsuit in district court here in Montgomery, an attempt once again to get the monument back into public view -- back to you.
WHITFIELD: And, Brian, you mentioned in your piece that that monument is in a back room, but it has not been removed from the building altogether. What's the next plan for this monument?
CABELL: Well, we're speculating perhaps they're keeping it inside this building just in case there is a decision to put it back. But we don't know. It belongs to Justice Roy Moore. It's his personal possession. It's in a back room out of public view. If, by some chance, they decide to move it back into public view, it would be very easy. Or they could just pull it out of here some time in the indefinite future and it would go into his possession at that point to be on public view maybe somewhere else, at his home. We don't -- we simply don't know at this point.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much, Brian Cabell from Montgomery, Alabama.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Lawsuit>
