SALEM, Ore. (CN) - Ethics hearing over, Oregon state Judge Vance Day awaits a judicial commission's ruling on 13 charges against him, including refusing to officiate at same-sex marriages and hanging a portrait of Hitler in the courthouse.
Day seemed considerably sobered Friday, two weeks after he strode into the basement hearing room at the state capital, smiling broadly at a packed gallery of supporters.
The 13 charges against the Marion County Circuit Court judge include an allegedly inappropriate relationship with a former Navy SEAL who was a defendant in Day's Veterans Treatment Court, and using his official position to intimidate a referee at his son's soccer game.
Testimony Friday to the Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability turned to the issue of same-sex marriage, which Day said his religion prevents him from performing.
Commission attorney Victoria Blatchley asked Marion County Commissioner Kevin Cameron about the position of the Morning Star Community Church on gay marriage.
Day and his family attend the church, as does Cameron.
"Does your church hold the position that same-sex marriage should be illegal?" Blatchley asked.
"I don't know the church's position," Cameron said. "I know what the Scripture says. But you'd have to ask our pastor directly what his stance is on that."
Commission Chairwoman Judge Debra Vogt had some follow-up questions for Cameron.
"Are you telling the commission that you have been part of the Morning Star Church since 1989 and you don't know the church's position on same-sex marriage?"
"I know what the Scripture says," Cameron said.
"Do you know the church's position?" Vogt asked.
"The church follows the Bible," Cameron said.
"Can you tell me what that means?" Vogt asked.
"In the Bible, marriage is defined as one man and one woman," Cameron said.
"So that's the position of the church?" Vogt asked.
"Sure," Cameron said.
Blatchley played a clip of Day's September interview with conservative radio host Lars Larson on the show "First Amendment Friday."
"I made a decision not to marry same-sex couples," Day told Larson on the air. "I believe that judges do not give up their First Amendment rights when we go on the bench. I'm not against gay people, but please recognize my rights."
Expatiating on the ethics charges against him, Day told Larson: "This was a simple issue relating to a gun that my son brought over to a Navy SEAL's home when I was trying to fix his furnace, that I self-reported. Then somebody said I would not do same-sex marriages and it spun out from there.
"This is an attack against people who have faith in public services," he said. "It's a statement that people who have faith should not be in public office. And it's really a frontal attack on judicial independence. We trust our judges not to just be rubber-stamp bureaucrats. We look at a case and ask ourselves, 'Do I have bias?' And if we do, then we recuse ourselves. I do that maybe once or twice a month.
"I think this case really goes to how we are going to run our democratic republic. Are we going to toss judges out of court, off the bench, because they have a world view that includes religious beliefs?"
Blatchley asked if Day thought the radio interview could have undermined public trust in the judiciary.
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