FORT PAYNE, AL — Alabama’s once-and-(he hopes)-future Chief Justice says that the “ultimate destruction” of America will be the end result of legalizing gay marriage. Speaking at a Tea Party rally on Saturday in Fort Payne, Republican nominee for chief justice Roy Moore said that marriage equality attacks the country’s foundation.

Moore’s opponent, Circuit Judge Robert Vance, a Democrat, says that same-sex marriage isn’t an issue in Alabama, because the state has a constitutional amendment that prohibits such unions.

Moore, 65, became Alabama’s chief justice in 2001. In 2003, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary unanimously removed Moore from his post after he refused the order of a federal judge to take down a Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Judicial Building.

In 2006, Moore sought the Republican primary nomination for Governor of Alabama, but lost nearly two-to-one to incumbent Gov. Bob Riley. In the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary, Moore received only 19 percent of the vote, placing fourth.