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It's an unimposing little plaque, this wooden wall hanging that has caused such a ruckus in a northeast Alabama courtroom.

But one man may go to jail over it.

Roy Moore wasn't even a judge back in 1980 when he got the idea to make his own Ten Commandments plaque after seeing one his mother had purchased at a home party. He cut two pieces of wood to look like two stone tablets and with a wood-burning tool inscribed the Commandments.

The tablets are hinged at the center, and on the back, an artist painted the scene of Moses bringing the Commandments down from Mount Sinai.

Moore was a deputy district attorney in those days, with no notion of the commotion his handiwork would stir.

But he has carried the plaque with him, from its spot on his wall at home to a spot over his right shoulder in his Etowah County courtroom, where he has presided as judge since 1992.

That's where the trouble began—with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Alabama Free Thought Association, which sued to force Judge Moore to remove the plaque from his courtroom. And for good measure, they threw into their lawsuit a demand that Judge Moore stop opening his court sessions with a pastor-led prayer.

Both sides appealed. The Alabama Supreme Court granted Judge Moore a stay on the prayer decision and will consider the ruling in the coming months.

On top of that, Scott Borden, a lesbian mother, complained that Judge Moore, because of his overt Christianity, could not render a fair decision in her child custody battle with her husband, and she demanded that he step down.

So far, Judge Moore has been able to stave off loss with appeals. Last fall, in Montgomery, Alabama's capital, 15th Circuit Court Judge Charles Price ruled Judge Moore could keep the 10 Commandments.

In February 1997, Judge Price, at the request of the ACLU traveled to Gadsden to see the plaque hanging on Judge Moore's wall and reversed his decision, ruling that the plaque was overtly religious and must be removed within ten days.

That's when Judge Moore's story went national. Alabama Governor Fob James said that if Judge Price wanted to remove the Ten Commandments, he'd have to go through the National Guard troops to do it. Bill Pryor, Alabama Attorney General, immediately appealed that order to the state Supreme Court which ordered a stay.

The only case in which Judge Moore is on the losing end at the moment is in the case of the lesbian mother. In December 1996, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals sided with Scott Borden, agreeing that because Judge Moore is so outspoken in his Christian faith, he should step down from her case against her husband, James Christopher Borden. Judge Moore already had refused two requests to relinquish the divorce case. The ruling is being appealed.

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