(CN) — Alabama may not have heard the last from Roy Moore. The former judge, twice removed from the Alabama Supreme Court, lost to Alabama’s first Democratic senator in more than 20 years in a cataclysmic race in 2017 when women accused him of decades-old sexual improprieties. Now he’s looking at running again in 2020.
The 2017 special election came when Senator Jeff Sessions was appointed U.S. attorney general. It was close, but Moore’s opponent Doug Jones won the race thanks to the overwhelming support of black female voters.
Jones is up for reelection in the 2020 election, and it appears that Alabama Republicans may be open for a Jones v. Moore rematch.
As other Alabamians announce their intentions to seek the state’s senate seat, Moore is far from resolving lawsuits alleging conspiracy, fraud and defamation that grew from his last campaign. There are depositions to conduct, evidence to produce and public hearings to hold on the very issues that made the 2017 special election so contentious.
“The court is just not moving,” Moore told Courthouse News about one case in Montgomery. “And I think it's all an attempt to keep me from doing things and keep me where they want to keep me.”
The former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court was removed from the state’s highest bench in 2003 after he refused to move a monument to the 10 Commandments from the Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building. He resigned from the same position in 2017 after he was suspended for directing Alabama’s probate judges to not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Last week, a poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy made waves when it discovered that among Alabama Republicans, Moore leads the potential candidates for Alabama’s seat in the U.S. Senate at 27%, in a field of six.
The poll noted Moore has a name-recognition advantage that may shrink as the primary goes on. If he decides to run, he will face resistance from his own party, as 29% of Republican voters who responded to the poll disapprove of him.
Moore has yet to announce whether he will run.
Meanwhile, the Doug Jones campaign sent fundraising emails over the weekend citing that Moore was “leading the Republican field.”
Speaking with Courthouse News, Moore said he’s heard from several people that he should run. He said he will make an announcement in three to four weeks.
“I think that what (the poll) reflects, my opinion, is that the people of Alabama saw through this disinformation campaign that was put on in the 2017 race,” Moore said.
The legal cases in which Moore is a party have ranged from quiet dismissals to all-out legal battles.
The Moores sued CBS, Showtime Networks and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in September. The comedian of “Borat” fame disguised himself as Erran Morad, a supposed Israeli counterterrorism expert, and sought to interview Moore in Washington, D.C. for the show “Who is America?”
During the filming, Cohen allegedly whipped out a device that he said would detect pedophiles. Cohan called it Israeli technology as he waved it over Moore’s chest and it beeped.
The interview ended. Moore sued in District of Columbia Federal Court alleging the comedian committed fraud.
The defendants sought a change of venue in October, asking to move the case to the Southern District of New York, in accordance with the agreement Moore signed before sitting down for the interview.
Moore opposed the transfer. “There can simply be no consent, or legally binding agreement, when one party misrepresents not only their identity but also their purpose of the purported agreement, as Defendants have clearly and admittedly done here,” Moore’s motion states.
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