What should a judge do when the law conflicts with morality?
Moore’s actions raise the interesting question of what a judge should do when his or her oath of office conflicts with the law or constitution of the land. Not only American judges in the antebellum era but also judges in Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa have faced this issue. The solution is not easy. Sometimes a judge can find ways to interpret the law that conform to both its language and his or her morality. But if he or she cannot, if the law is clearly immoral, then the judge’s only moral choice might be to resign and become a private citizen. Indeed, if judges feel strongly enough about moral issues, they ought to feel compelled openly to advocate in favor of the position they feel is correct — something they likely could not do while remaining judges. Then such as judge can ask the same questions King asked: Is this law unjust, and is it right to disobey it? Imagine, for instance, that Moore, now a private citizen, were, in the dead of night, to try peaceably but di
