Tom Parker '73, legal adviser to controversial former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, has announced that he will seek the Republican nomination for a seat on the Alabama Supreme Court.
Parker will face off in the June 1 state Republican primary against incumbent Justice Jean Brown -- one of the eight associate justices who had Moore's Ten Commandments monument removed from a rotunda in the Alabama Judicial Building.
The primary race is expected to be one of the more heated ones in Alabama, Parker said, because Democrats have yet to post a challenger for Brown's seat.
Therefore, the contest for the Alabama Supreme Court seat will most likely be resolved at the Republican primary, Parker said.
At present, Parker and Moore's careers are very much intertwined.
Parker was an adamant supporter the Ten Commandments monument that U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
"I firmly believe that our founding fathers intended for there to be an acknowledgment of God in the face of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution," Parker said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
Following Moore's removal from the court for disregarding a federal order to remove the monument, Parker was fired from his position at the Alabama Administrative Office of Courts for counseling the controversial figure.
Now, Parker is a special projects coordinator for Moore's Foundation for Moral Law and is coordinating efforts to pass a national bill to restrict federal courts from reviewing cases involving the acknowledgment of God.
Parker even said that he would pursue Moore's support for his upcoming campaign.
"I hope to receive his support, though I don't know if there will actually be an endorsement," Parker said.
Parker, who has been married for the past 22 years, graduated cum laude from Dartmouth in 1973 and is also an alumnus of Vanderbilt Law School in 1978.
At the College, he was also a member of both the Dartmouth Film Society and Casque and Gauntlet senior society.
Parker petitioned for and was a pioneer student in Dartmouth's Portuguese language instruction program.
According to Parker, after only two terms of Portuguese, he was fluent enough in the language to study law in Sao Paolo, Brazil as the recipient of the Rotary International Fellowship.
Parker attended the College as it transformed itself into a co-educational institution in 1972. Parker said he was an active supporter of co-education.
"I went door to door in the dorms with petitions asking the administration to open up enrollment to females," Parker said.
Raised in Alabama, Parker said it took him almost all four years of College to become used to the frigid New Hampshire winters.
Still, Parker expressed that he managed to develop a strong appreciation for Dartmouth's New England setting.
"My greatest joy at Dartmouth was being in the midst of the mountains," Parker said. "I loved cross-country running on all of the trails near the College."
