Standoff at Roy's Rock

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Moore's supporters have compared him to Martin Luther King, to Daniel, and even to Moses. The son of a construction worker, Moore, 56, grew up in northeast Alabama and worshipped at a Baptist church, not "an overbearing church where they shout and dance around," says his brother Jerry, "just a nice little country church." Moore graduated from West Point, served in Vietnam in the military police and earned his law degree at the University of Alabama. After losing a hard-fought election for circuit judge in 1982, Moore turned from law to more exotic battles, training as a kickboxer and wrangling cattle in Australia.

It was at this stage in his life that Moore carved his plaque of the Ten Commandments and, after being appointed as a circuit judge, hung it in his courtroom and started making headlines. The first lawsuit seeking to remove it was ultimately dismissed on a technicality. His victories in the court of public opinion, however, have been more decisive. He won his chief-justice post with 54% of the vote, and in a July poll of Alabama residents, 77% said they approve of his stone monument. His popularity has led to speculation that Moore is angling for higher office, although his staff denies that. In the meantime, however, his current job depends largely on whether he decides to obey the commandments of his legal colleagues. --Reported by Paige Bowers/Atlanta and Frank Sikora/Montgomery