Bravo

I want to give kudos to the 8 associate justices of the Alabama Supreme Court who have stepped up and ordered the removal of the Ten Commandments monument in their rotunda:

I'm not sure whether they had any legal obligation to make this decision (since it was a federal case), but it is most welcome as a reflection of Moore's disgusting disregard for the role of law in our society and the oath that he took upon coming to the bench.

Yesterday, Yglesias pointed out that this all seems calculated merely to boost Moore's political ambitions. In the comments, I posed a query that seems to have been lost in the shuffle, so I'll repeat it here.

This sort of politicking only seems to work in the South, at least as far as my knowledge extends. I can think of several civil rights-era Southern politicians who made their name by defying the Court, but no equivalent examples in Northern states. If others have such examples, please enlighten me.