Governor draws criticism for saying Bill of Rights doesn't apply to
Alabama.
Associated Press, 07/02/97 01:45

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) When Gov. Fob James wrote a federal judge that
much of the Bill of Rights freedom of speech, press, religion does
not apply to the states, it was almost business as usual at the Capitol.

After all, James is the governor who brought back chain gangs, promised
to call up the National Guard to keep a Ten Commandments display on a
courtroom wall, and urged that Supreme Court justices be impeached.

But the 62yearold Republican governor's latest plunge into
constitutional law raised new questions about his bearings.

``Rather bizarre,'' said William Stewart, chairman of the political
science department at the University of Alabama.

``Why he wants to go off on some of these tangents is beyond me,'' said
David Bronner, who oversees Alabama's $16 billion pension fund. ``This
is just a continuation of a perception of the state that is negative.''

James' 34page letter to the federal judge cited numerous historic legal
arguments, as well as the Bible, to support his basic claim: The federal
courts have no jurisdiction over the states on First Amendment rights.
If the states want prayer in schools, he said, that's their business.

The letter was sent last week to U.S. District Judge Ira DeMent, who
struck down Alabama's 1993 school prayer law in March. James didn't like
the law either, but contended the court has no authority to rule on the
matter.

He said Tuesday the letter would be followed by formal legal motions.
DeMent declined to comment. Observers said James' case looked weak.

``We've got as strong a states' rights court as we've had in a long
time, and I cannot visualize them agreeing with the governor,'' said
Robert A. Bernstein, chairman of the political science department at
Auburn University. ``They've given no hint at all of backtracking to
where he wants them to go, positions they haven't held in 60 or 70
years.''

James' letter immediately raised states' rights echoes those of former
Gov. George Wallace's segregationist clamor of the 1960s.

Bronner said James' widely reported stands reinforce the view that
business leaders have of Alabama, a view that ``comes from a
blackandwhite TV out of the 1960s.''

James said his arguments cite such constitutional scholars as Presidents
Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln and are far removed from the
antifederal court rhetoric of Wallace and 1960s segregationists.

``George Wallace is not mentioned in this letter,'' James said.

Stewart agreed that James is not as inflammatory as Wallace, the
fourterm governor who attracted national attention in 1963 when he
tried to block two young blacks from entering the University of Alabama.
He stepped aside after a speech about states' rights.

``James, while his message is off the wall, is more restrained,''
Stewart said.

Democrats said James' image will define his 1998 reelection campaign.
But James is still viewed as being in a commanding position despite some
odd turns in his administration and career.

James won election as a Democrat in 1978, decided not to seek
reelection, then failed in two later bids to return. He won in 1994 in
his first race as a Republican in the heavily Democratic state.

Once in office, he made Alabama the first state to reinstate chain
gangs, supported a religious display in a judge's courtroom, and sought
impeachments for ``illegal'' Supreme Court rulings on school prayer and
gay rights.

He also saw three top Cabinet officials quit last year amid allegations
James ran ``an administration of broken promises, double standards,
power grabbing and back stabbing.'' And The Associated Press reported
last summer that historic portraits were removed from the governor's
mansion because first lady Bobbie James considered them graven images.

As for James' letter on states' rights, Stewart doubted it would hurt
the governor politically in this Bible Belt state.

``I don't think the average Alabamian pays that much attention to
legal arguments,'' he said. _ Copyright 1997 Globe Newspaper Company