Alabama Judicial Building
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Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building, commonly called the Alabama Judicial Building, is a state government building in Montgomery,
Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
. It houses several state judicial agencies, most notably the
Supreme Court of Alabama The Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the U.S. state, state of Alabama. The court consists of a Chief Justice, chief justice and eight Associate Justice, associate justices. Each justice is elected in partisan elections for stagge ...
,
Alabama Court of Civil Appeals The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals is one of two appellate courts in the Alabama judicial system. The court was established in 1969 when what had been one unitary state Court of Appeals was broken into a criminal appeals court and a civil appeals ...
, and
Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals is one of two appellate courts in the Alabama judicial system. The court was established in 1969 when what had been one unitary state Court of Appeals was broken into a criminal appeals court and a civil app ...
. It is the first state court building in the United States to house all three courts under one roof. Additionally, it houses the State Law Library. The neoclassical-style structure was completed in 1994 at a cost of approximately $35 million. In 2001,
Roy Moore Roy Stewart Moore (born February 11, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer, and jurist who served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2013 to 2017, each time being removed from office for judic ...
, who was Chief Justice at the time, placed a
Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten ...
monument on public display in the rotunda of the building. This placement of a religious monument in a government judicial building caused a nationwide controversy.


Architecture and features

The Judicial Building is a modern interpretation of neoclassical architecture. It was designed by Barganier Davis Sims Architects Associated of Montgomery and Gresham, Smith and Partners of
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
. Situated on a city block measuring , it rises to a height of at the top of the wide dome. The building has a reinforced concrete and steel substructure, clad in
Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
limestone. A
pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...
ed
portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...
with ten monumental Ionic columns is centered on the front facade of the structure between projecting side-wings. The interior is arranged around a central
rotunda A rotunda () is any roofed building with a circular ground plan, and sometimes covered by a dome. It may also refer to a round room within a building (an example being the one below the dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.). ...
that measures approximately tall and wide. The rotunda is faced in
Carrara marble Carrara marble, or Luna marble (''marmor lunense'') to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara ...
and features eight marble columns that are tall. The building contains of floorspace spread over six levels. A parking garage and mechanical systems are located on the basement level. The Administrative Office of Courts, Museum of Judicial History, and a visitor parking garage are located on the ground floor level. The main lobby level contains the primary entrance, as well as the State Law Library, Appellate Court Clerks' Offices, and the two-story rotunda. The Court of Civil Appeals, Court of Criminal Appeals, and their courtrooms are situated on the second level. A
mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...
level contains archival, conference, and storage rooms. The Supreme Court chamber is located on the third, top, level. It is situated above the rotunda and directly beneath the dome.


Ten Commandments monument

Roy Moore was elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama on November 7, 2000. He was sworn in on January 15, 2001. It was revealed on August 1, 2001 that Moore had commissioned and placed a granite replica of the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the Judicial Building's the night before. This was all done without the prior knowledge or consent of the other eight justices of the Supreme Court. Three lawyers then filed '' Glassroth v. Moore'' in the
United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama The United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama (in case citations, M.D. Ala.) is a United States district court in the Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, ...
against Moore in his official capacity as Chief Justice to have the monument removed. The court found in favor of the plaintiffs, citing that the display was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the
First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
. The District Court then entered its final judgment and injunction that ordered that it be removed from the building by August 20, 2003. Moore refused to comply. Thousands of protestors from around the country converged on the Judicial Building after the decision to rally against the removal of the monument. Following Moore's non-compliance, the eight Associate Justices of the Alabama Supreme Court issued an order that recognized Moore's refusal to obey a binding order of a federal court and instructed that the building manager comply with the injunction. The monument was removed from the rotunda on August 27, 2003 and put into storage. Due to a variety of factors, including legal appeals and potential clashes with pro-monument protesters outside of the building, the monument was not removed from the building until July 19, 2004. The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission filed a complaint against Moore with the
Alabama Court of the Judiciary The Alabama Court of the Judiciary is a court within the judicial branch of the American state of Alabama. It has the power to try judicial officers in other state courts and punish them for violation of judicial ethics, misconduct, dereliction ...
a few days after the monument was removed from public display. Moore was subsequently removed from office on November 13, 2003 by the court. In 2012, Moore was returned to his position as Chief Justice by a vote of the people and began his second term in January 2013.


See also

*
Government of Alabama The government of Alabama is organized under the provisions of the 2022 Constitution of Alabama. Like other states within the United States, Alabama's government is divided into executive, judicial, and legislative branches. Also like any other ...


References

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External links


Alabama Administrative Office of Courts Museum Area
- Building tour and photos Courthouses in Alabama State government buildings in Alabama Buildings and structures in Montgomery, Alabama Museums in Montgomery, Alabama Law museums in the United States History museums in Alabama Government buildings completed in 1994 1990s architecture in the United States Neoclassical architecture in Alabama 1994 establishments in Alabama