Information about The Display of The Ten Commandments 

WASHINGTON - Ousted Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore contends judges have overstepped their authority in religious expression cases, but his bid to reverse the trend continues to move slowly at best, despite his personal pleas to Congress.

Making his second appearance before Congress in just over three months, Moore on Monday defended the Constitution Restoration Act, which he helped write, before a House Judiciary Committee panel on courts, the Internet and intellectual property.

As was the case in June, when he faced the Senate in a more generic hearing about the separation of church and state, Republicans were largely supportive of the plan while Democrats warned it would open a constitutional Pandora's Box.

With a divided Congress and no indication of support from the White House, it's unclear how soon - if ever - lawmakers could act on his plan. There is virtually no chance of passage this year with a crowded legislative calendar and only weeks to go in the session.

Moore is seeking congressional approval of a measure that would strip from the federal courts any power to abridge a public acknowledgment of God, such as the display of the Ten Commandments. Judges could be impeached for violations.

Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., said the bill would amount to a sidestep of the checks and balances the founding fathers put in the Constitution, allowing Congress to decide what topics are and aren't the judicial system's business. Currently only a constitutional amendment can reverse the Supreme Court's final ruling.

"The framers deliberately made it difficult to achieve because they did not want legislators repeatedly tinkering with the founding document," Berman said.

Moore, who was removed from office for defying a federal court order mandating that he remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building, maintains the existence of God is intrinsic to the country's history. Therefore, he says judges have no right to make laws abridging such an acknowledgment of God.

"You see, we're erasing our history right under your noses in this Congress, right under your watchful eye," Moore said.

Besides the Democratic critics, two law professors argued Moore's proposal would amount to a constitutional crisis. Michael J. Gerhardt of William & Mary law school said abridging federal decisions would simply create mass confusion among state court decisions.

"You could have 50 different states reaching different conclusions over federal right and federal claims," Gerhardt said. "That kind of chaos, I believe, is prohibited by the Constitution."

Democrats were particularly critical Monday of a provision in the bill that would allow judges to be impeached for rulings that, in the view of Congress, overstep their authority. The Constitution allows public officials to be impeached for "high crimes and misdemeanors," but in practice, official public acts haven't risen to that level.

In an interview with The Associated Press earlier Monday, Moore said he was disappointed the Republican Party didn't include stronger language on the acknowledgment of God in drafting its platform at the national convention earlier this month.

Despite this and a mixed reception from lawmakers, he said he senses the movement is gaining steam.

"I think it's moving on its own," Moore said. "Nobody else is pushing this. The reason it does have momentum is simply because it's truth, and people are starting to wake up to the truth."