Eight Alabama judges, four active and four retired, have filed a brief in support of suspended Chief Justice Roy Moore with the special Supreme Court that will hear Moore's appeal.

The judges contend that the Court of the Judiciary circumvented a rule requiring a unanimous vote to remove a judge from office by instead suspending Moore for the rest of his term.

The punishment "is tantamount to the removal from office requiring the concurrence of all members of the Court of the Judiciary," the judges' brief states.

The judges also claim that the punishment of Moore for what he wrote in an administrative order to probate judges sets a troubling precedent.

"The severity of the punishment for the Chief Justice's administrative speech in this particular case calls for modification by this appellate court lest judges misperceive that their judgment and the expression of that legal judgment must comport with a particular political and religious viewpoint, even when they state a valid, though arguable, point of law," the judges state in the brief, filed Wednesday.

The eight judges who filed the brief supporting Moore are Circuit Judge John Bentley, Circuit Judge T. Lee Carter and District Judge Mark Hammitte of the 25th Circuit (Marion and Winston counties); retired Circuit Judge Ashley McKathan, retired Circuit Judge Jerry Stokes and retired District Judge Frank L. McGuire III of Covington County; Circuit Judge Tim Riley of Marshall County and retired Circuit Judge Rusty Johnston of Mobile County.

In September, the Court of the Judiciary suspended Moore for the rest of his term without pay. His term ends in January 2019.

The key complaint against Moore concerned an administrative order he wrote to probate judges in January, about six months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states had to allow and recognize gay marriage.

In his administrative order, Moore told probate judges that an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that required probate judges to enforce the state's gay marriage ban remained in effect.

The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a complaint with the Judicial Inquiry Commission, which later charged Moore with violating judicial ethics by encouraging probate judges to defy federal court orders, sending the case to the Court of the Judiciary.

Moore said he was not telling the probate judges to defy federal courts but was advising them on the status of the Alabama Supreme Court order.

The Court of the Judiciary held a hearing and found Moore guilty of six charges of violating the canons of judicial ethics. It voted unanimously to suspend him for the rest of his term. The court noted it did not have the unanimous vote required to officially remove Moore from office but did not release a vote count.

At the time, Moore issued a statement which read, in part: "This was a politically motivated effort by radical homosexual and transgender groups to remove me as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court because of outspoken opposition to their immoral agenda."

Moore has appealed the ruling to a special state Supreme Court made up of seven retired judges who were appointed to hear the appeal after the Supreme Court recused.

The eight judges who filed the brief supporting Moore are represented by attorney Win Johnson, former legal director at the Administrative Office of Courts.

Johnson said Acting Chief Justice Lyn Stuart fired him on Nov. 3. Stuart also fired Administrative Office of Courts Director Rich Hobson.

Both men said Stuart said she could not work with them.

A clerk in Stuart's office said there would be no comment on the firings.

Hobson said Justice Jim Main was also at the meeting where he was fired and concurred in the decision.

A message left for Main's office was not returned.

Both Hobson and Johnson had worked under Moore during Moore's first term as chief justice.

Johnson was Moore's senior staff attorney, while Hobson served as AOC director.

Moore's first term ended in 2003 when Moore was removed from office by the Court of the Judiciary for refusing to follow a federal judge's order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building.

After Moore was elected chief justice again in 2012, he hired Hobson as AOC director and Hobson hired Johnson as legal director.

Hobson said he expected Moore to win his appeal.

Last year, Johnson wrote about his opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage in a letter to Gov. Robert Bentley's legal adviser.

Johnson wrote that public officials, as "ministers of God," should take a stand against the ruling. Johnson later apologized to Bentley and said Moore reprimanded him for sending the letter.

Johnson said he hopes the special Supreme Court will reverse the decision against Moore or at least modify the punishment. He said if the decision stands it could have a chilling effect on the independence of judges on issues other than gay marriage.

"I hope they see this as something much broader than one judge's discipline," Johnson said.

This story was updated at 9:37 a.m. to say that Rich Hobson said Justice Jim Main concurred in the decision to fire him.

Judges' Motion Supporting Chief Justice Moore by Mike Cason on Scribd