What began as an attempt to claim the moral high ground for a candidate mired in scandal has turned into possible legal peril after his wife made a wildly misleading claim on her Facebook page.

Earlier today, it was reported that Kayla Moore, the wife of embattled Alabama senatorial candidate Roy Moore (R), had posted a letter on Facebook signalling the broad support of Alabama religious figures for Moore even as an expanding sex assault scandal has surrounded him for the past week.

The letter, signed by over fifty religious leaders from throughout the state, declares that

…[f]or decades, Roy Moore has been an immovable rock in the culture wars — a bold defender of the “little guy,” a just judge to those who came before his court, a warrior for the unborn child, defender of the sanctity of marriage, and a champion for religious liberty. Moore has stood in the gap for us, taken the brunt of the attack, and has done so with a rare, unconquerable resolve.

Judge Roy Moore (R), candidate for the Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions

It goes on to defend Moore from the attacks of Washington elites and liberals of other stripes, hailing the love and respect for the Constitution shown by a man twice removed from the judicial bench for his mistreatment of that document. The letter is a call to arms. “We are ready to join the fight,” it concludes, “and send a bold message to Washington: dishonesty, fear of man, and immorality are an affront to our convictions and our Savior and we won’t put up with it any longer. We urge you to join us at the polls to cast your vote for Roy Moore.”

What follows is a list of signatories representing numerous Christian denominations and churches from across Alabama, from Dr. Tom Ford, III, of Montgomery’s Grace Baptist Church to the Reverend Bill Owens of the Coalition of African American Pastors.

Response to the letter was swift and scathing, with many declaring it to be yet another example of an often murky Evangelical culture surrounding encounters between older men and younger women. Others suggested that the letter demonstrated that Alabama’s religious community had sold its soul, putting the victory of a Republican — any Republican — over the possible loss of a Senate seat to Democratic challenger Doug Jones, no matter what that Republican might have done.

There’s another problem with the pastors’ letter, though: it’s a fraud.

The letter posted on Kayla Moore’s Facebook page is a word-for-word copy of one that can be found on Roy Moore’s website — from back in August (and here’s an archived version, just in case). The letter was originally posted in support of Moore’s candidacy against fellow Republican challenger Luther Strange, as three introductory paragraphs that Kayla Moore redacted from her reposting of the letter make clear:

From the pulpit to hospital rooms, from wedding altars to the funeral home, from the Capitol to our prisons, we are called to serve Jesus Christ in every area of life. With our calling comes a responsibility to address such compelling cultural issues as the special election for United States Senate. We have the opportunity this Tuesday, August 15, to send a man to Washington who shares our convictions, will fight for morality, and will restore integrity in the halls of Congress. That man is Judge Roy Moore. America has never been in a more desperate position of needing a strong, principled leader than we find ourselves in today. Exodus 18:21 gives us wise criteria for selecting our public officials when it tells us to “… look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people…” In acknowledging that wisdom, Noah Webster wrote in 1837, “…let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers just men who will rule in the fear of God. The preservation of a republican government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted …” This is a rare occasion where both opportunity and responsibility converge. We are privileged to shoulder this responsibility and vote on Tuesday to elect a senator who is able, who fears God, and who is trustworthy. Judge Roy Moore is uniquely qualified to represent us, fight for our values, and restore integrity and honor to our nation’s Capitol.

Stripped of this context, one could be forgiven for assuming — as so many have today — that the letter posted by Kayla Moore was in response to the ongoing wave of accusations leveled at her husband. It might not have been out of place if it were, unhappily, with Republican fellow-travelers throughout Alabama and the nation at large going to increasingly desperate lengths to wave the whole problem away. Learning that 50+ moral pillars and community leaders had declared that they would go down with Moore’s ship no matter how avoidable the iceberg would have been dispiriting, but perhaps not suprising.

But we didn’t learn that. What we learned instead is that Moore, his family, and those around him seem unconcerned about misleading both their supporters and the general public alike — even if it means falsely implying that dozens of respected religious leaders happily have the back of an accused child molester. One signatory, Tijuanna Adetunji, has already stated that “she was not contacted about the letter and did not give permission for her name to be used.”

Alabama defamation laws include a provision that the plaintiff does not need to prove monetary loss or material injury in order to seek damages from the accused. It’s presumed that the defamatory claim is an injury in itself:

Naturally harmful statements are considered per se defamatory. […] For example, calling someone a criminal is considered defamation per se in many states, as the reputational harm is inherent in the statement.

I’m not sure what it will do to one’s reputation to be falsely proclaimed as a signatory of a letter supporting an accused child abuser, but I can’t imagine it’s a boost.

With the Alabama special election just under a month away, events such as these will become an increasingly important component of how the voting public is manipulated on the way to the ballot box. The people of Alabama deserve to be told the truth about their leaders, whether religious or civil, and — as Moore’s supporters have been very quick to remind the world— everyone deserves to have their words and deeds fairly represented in the press.

If that’s the case, though, I can think of fifty people in Alabama who have a phone call to make.