Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore said today he resents any suggestion he is not committed to the principle "that all men are created equal." The remarks came in response to reports that he addressed a white nationalist group 20 years ago.

The group, the Council of Conservative Citizens, was cited by accused Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof as part of his "manifesto" before the shooting last week that killed nine people.

Moore, who was elected chief justice for the second time in 2012, responded this afternoon to reports that he addressed a white supremacist group in 1995 while a judge in the Alabama 16th Judicial Circuit.

"I have spoken to many groups during the past 30 years about acknowledging God in our law and government. I did not consider the Council of Conservative Citizens to be a 'white supremacist' group when I spoke to them 20 years ago, and I presume neither did Senator Trent Lott, Alabama Governor Guy Hunt, Mississippi Governor Fordice or many others who have done so in the past," Moore said.

"Having recently received a national award for courage from the Coalition of African-American Pastors for upholding traditional and biblical marriage, I obviously highly regard the fundamental principle stated in the Declaration of Independence that 'all men are created equal.' I resent any efforts to disparage my commitment to that principle and to attack my message of family, faith and freedom."

The CCC's newsletter reported that Moore spoke at a conference in 1995. The same newsletter from 1995 reported CCC delegates were greeted by then-Jefferson County Commissioner (later chair) Bettye Fine Collins and Birmingham City Councilman Dr. Jimmy Blake.

The newsletter does not discuss the content of Moore's remarks, but notes he'd gained attention for hanging a copy of the 10 Commandments in his courtroom. The move vaulted Moore to national prominence.

Moore later faced a legal challenge and eventual ouster from the chief justice's position in 2003 after refusing a court order to take down a 10 Commandments monument at the Alabama Supreme Court.

The CCC is the nation's largest white nationalist group, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC says the group is a reincarnation of the White Citizens Councils that were formed to resist desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s.

The CCC offered a statement on its website condemning the Charleston shooting. The group also noted that Root had obtained information about "black-on-white" violent crime from the site.

"This is not surprising: The CofCC is one of perhaps three websites in the world that accurately and honestly report black-on-white violent crime, and in particular, the seemingly endless incidents involving black-on-white murder," the group said on its site.