WASHINGTON, June 22 (UPI) -- Alabama Gov. Bob Riley named state Finance Director Drayton Nabers Jr., Tuesday as the replacement for ousted Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.
The post of presiding judge of the state's Supreme Court became vacant last November after Moore was removed from office for refusing to obey a federal order demanding he remove a stone monument to the origins of U.S. law that he had installed in the rotunda of the state judicial building.
The monument featured the biblical Ten Commandments in a prominent position, leading critics to charge it violated the constitutional prohibition on the establishment of a state religion, a position ultimately upheld by the court.
On April 30, a special Alabama Supreme Court voted unanimously to endorse Moore's removal from office.
Nabers, 63, has a law degree from Yale University and had been a practicing attorney in Birmingham, Ala., before entering the insurance business. As the state's finance director, Nabers had been tasked with overseeing state spending, borrowing, budgeting and purchasing.
