Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore spoke at the Family Research Council's Watchmen on the Wall pastors' retreat on May 21, 2015. (CNSNew.com/Penny Starr)

(CNSNews.com) – On May 17, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg officiated the marriage of two men and used the occasion to cite her constitutional right to do so. In June, the high court – including Ginsburg’s vote - will announce its decision on whether homosexual marriage is guaranteed by the Constitution.



That’s grounds for impeachment, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore told CNSNews.com in an exclusive interview.



“She’s basically thumbing her nose in front of the other justices that she’s going to say what she wants to say and do what she wants to do, and she’s going to ignore the rules of ethics,” Moore said, adding that judges are bound by those rules.



“I think there’s grounds for the legislature of the United States and Congress to act,” Moore said. “They could act to impeach her; they could remove her for bad behavior, because judges serve for good behavior under Article 3 (of the Constitution).



Moore said the fact that Ginsburg made a public statement that she had a right under the Constitution to perform a same-sex wedding, under the ethics rules, is bad behavior given her role in deciding the Obergefell v. Hodges case.



“They could find that’s bad behavior and subject to impeachment and removal,” Moore said.

The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd wrote about the wedding and Ginsburg’s remarks during the ceremony.



“Wearing her black robe with her signature white lace collar, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presided over the marriage on Sunday afternoon of Michael Kahn, the longtime artistic director of the Shakespeare Theater Company in Washington, and Charles Mitchem, who works at an architecture firm in New York,” Dowd wrote.



“The gilded setting was elegant: Anderson House in the Embassy Row neighborhood, the headquarters in Washington of the Society of the Cincinnati, a club for the descendants of the French and American soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War,” Dowd wrote. “During the ceremony, the couple slipped black and gold Harry Winston rings onto each other’s fingers.



“But the most glittering moment for the crowd came during the ceremony," Dowd wrote. “With a sly look and special emphasis on the word ‘Constitution,’ Justice Ginsburg said that she was pronouncing the two men married by the powers vested in her by the Constitution of the United States.



“No one was sure if she was emphasizing her own beliefs or giving a hint to the outcome of the case the Supreme Court is considering whether to decide if same-sex marriage is constitutional,” Dowd wrote.



Moore’s Foundation for Moral Law, in fact, petitioned the court claiming two of the nine judges should recuse themselves from the same-sex marriage decision – Ginsburg and Elena Kagan, who has also officiated a same-sex wedding.



The foundation, under the leadership of Moore’s wife Kayla Moore, issued a press release in April on the recusal motion.



“Canon 3A(6) of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges provides that ‘A judge should not make public comment on the merits of a matter pending or impending in any court.’ 28 U.S.C. sec 455(a) mandates that a Justice ‘shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.’



“Because they have performed same-sex marriages, and because Justice Ginsburg has spoken publicly in favor of same-sex marriage, the foundation contends that those justices are predisposed to rule in favor of same-sex marriage and are unable or unwilling to consider this case impartially, and that their words and actions give the appearance of bias, if not bias itself.”



“Common sense dictates that one who has performed same-sex marriages cannot objectively rule on their legality,” Kayla Moore said in the announcement of the motion. “If these justices participate in this case, the court’s decision will forever be questioned as being based on their personal feelings rather than on the Constitution itself.



“With far less evidence of bias [Alabama Supreme Court] Chief Justice Roy Moore voluntarily did not vote on the recent Alabama Supreme Court case regarding same-sex marriage.



“Justices Ginsburg and Kagan should follow his example,” Kayla Moore said.







