Roy Moore

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore testifies during his ethics trial before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary at the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery, Ala., on Wednesday Sept. 28, 2016. He is accused of encouraging judges to defy the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling legalizing gay marriage. (Mickey Welsh/Montgomery Advertiser via AP, Pool)

(Mickey Welsh)

Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center

By J. Richard Cohen, the president of the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC filed the ethics charges that ultimately led to Chief Justice Moore's suspension.

The United States has always been defined by a fundamental belief in the rule of law. Indeed, it's a cornerstone of our democracy, one that separates our nation from so many others.

More than 200 years ago, Alexander Hamilton wrote that a "sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government." John Adams believed in the importance of a "government of laws, not of men," incorporating the phrase into the Massachusetts Constitution, which served as a prototype for the U.S. Constitution.

The Founding Fathers understood the dangers of governing by personal whim.

That's why it's so dismaying to see the state Republican Party rallying to Roy Moore's defense. Rather than accept the Alabama Court of the Judiciary's decision to suspend Moore from the office of chief justice, the party has attacked the very body that ensures the integrity of our courts.

The facts are beyond dispute: Moore attempted to put his personal religious beliefs above the rule of law. A federal court had ordered the state's probate judges to provide marriage licenses to same-sex couples on a nondiscriminatory basis. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled, as a matter of constitutional law, that "same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry in all States." Yet, in defiance of these rulings, Moore ordered the state's probate judges to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples. His actions were a clear violation of his oath of office and the canons of judicial ethics.

But Alabama GOP Chair Terry Lathan is complaining about ethics officials "who are unaccountable to the voters" overstepping their authority by suspending Moore for the rest of his term. Even before the suspension, the party's executive committee passed a resolution pressing state officials to politicize the Judicial Inquiry Commission - the body that investigates judicial ethics complaints - by turning it into an elected board.

What's happening here is obvious: The Alabama GOP is putting party politics above the rule of law. Moore's suspension is the result, not of an ethics panel run amok, but rather his own outrageous conduct.

The U.S. Constitution is clear. A state judge cannot substitute his opinion for a binding federal court ruling or ignore the rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court. It doesn't matter if the judge - or, for that matter, the voters who elected him - personally disagrees with the order, such as the one that legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states. The chief justice must either uphold the rule of law or step aside. Moore, intoxicated with his own self-righteousness, was unwilling to do either. Instead, he disgraced his office and threw the state's probate courts into chaos as a result.

The Alabama Court of the Judiciary, on the other hand, did its job.

The court heard the case against Moore and rendered a decision it likely knew would be deeply unpopular across the state. Instead of condemning the court for not playing to the crowd, the state GOP should be congratulating it. Our Founding Fathers recognized the importance of upholding the rule of law regardless of the way the political winds may be blowing. The Alabama GOP should recognize it as well.