In an earlier post, I wondered whether John McCain might shift his stance on same-sex marriage to attract support from social conservatives.

I would like to discuss another possibility: does the California ruling create an opening for a socially conservative third-party presidential candidate?

In 2003, Roy Moore, then chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, gained national attention for his refusal to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama courthouse. Because of his actions, Moore was removed from office and, according to the Associated Press, "became a hero to the Christian right."

About two years ago, I sustained a series of blog posts I called Theocrat of the Week. I have been thinking about it and have decided to resume the series. Except for this, the first in the new series, I will not cross post it anywhere, and it will be available exclusively at Talk to Action.

In the course of the selecting the Theocrat of the Week, I shall consult with a Distinguished Panel of Judges, who will help me discern those individuals who embody the discriminatory, totalitarian and sometimes inquisitional spirit of the theocratic tradition. On occasion, we will also acknowledge those whose modesty may prevent them from acknowledging their role in facilitating the mission of the theocratically inclined. Of course, there are some well-known theocrats who are so obvious, their numbers should have been retired years ago. But since it is spring, a time of refreshment and renewal, nominations for Theocrat of the Week, are now open -- wide open. You may post your nominations here, or send nominations to Our Distinguished Panel of Judges at TheocratOfTheWeek@gmail.com . The winner will be announced next week.

Tom Parker is running for the job once held by the Roy Moore, the former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who was ousted for defying a federal court order to remove the monument to the Ten Commandments he had installed in the state courthouse in Montgomery. Parker, who served as a spokesman and legal counsel to Moore, was elected to a seat as an Associate Justice on the court in 2004.  

Parker is running a pugnacious Christian Rightist primary campaign for the GOP nomination for chief against incumbent Chief Justice Drayton Nabers, who once clerked for legendary U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Hugo Black. The primary will be held on June 6th.  

Said Parker:

"Hugo Black was one of the worst justices in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. Unlike Chief Justice Nabers, I would never choose to work for Hugo Black after he ruled against school prayer and religious training in the classroom and Bible reading in public schools. And if I were Alabama's chief justice, I would never look to Hugo Black as an inspiration."

Parker is running on what is widely viewed as a payback slate of candidates seeking vengeance against the justices who voted -- unanimously -- for the ouster of Moore.

"It may be tempting to see Roy Moore as an exception" I wrote in the current issue of The Public Eye magazine, about the man best known as 'the ten commandments judge,'

but his rise is reviving old coalitions. In 2004, his former spokesman and legal advisor, Tom Parker, was elected as an Associate Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. At Parker's request, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas made the trek to Montgomery to swear him in. Exjudge Moore then also swore him in. "The Chief's courage to stand for principle over personal position inspired me and animated voters during my campaign for the Alabama Supreme Court" said Parker. "So, I have been doubly blessed to have been sworn into office by two heroes of the judiciary."  But Parker's politics has additional roots in the politics of the former Governor George] Wallace era.

He has ties to neoconfederate organizations such as the Council of Conservative Citizens and the white supremacist League of the South.

A January 1, 2006 op-ed by Parker from The Birmingham News, is currently posted over at the Alliance Defense Fund, a key Christian Right legal strategy organization.  

Parker starts out with a breathtaking assertion, by contemporary standards, regarding the Alabama Supreme Court's recent overturning of a death sentence of a juvenile.  He declares that the Alabama court should ignore the U.S. Supreme Court's ban on juvenille executions because it is "the unconstitutional opinion of five liberal justices on the U.S. Supreme Court," and is therefore not binding. He invokes the discredited notion of "interposition," which argues that the states may defy the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court.

When Roy Moore, the Chief Justice of the Alabama State Supreme Court, installed a two-and-one-half-ton granite monument to the Ten Commandments in the Alabama state courthouse in Montgomery in June of 2001, he knew it was a deeply symbolic act. He was saying that God's laws are the foundation of the nation; and of all our laws. Or at least, they ought to be. The monument (wags call it "Roy's rock") was installed under cover of night - but Moore had a camera crew from Rev. D. James Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries on hand to record the historic event. Kennedy then sold videos of the installation as a fundraiser for Moore's legal defense.

They knew he would need it.

The story of Roy's rock epitomizes the rise of what many are calling "dominionism." It is a story of how notions of "Biblical law" as an alternative to traditional, secular ideas of constitutional law are edging into mainstream American politics.