Words are inadequate

I wonder if you would you have said the same about Judge Roy Moore. I suspect not.

Obviously I didn't say the same of Judge Moore. It's an excellent question, but at least at this point there is still an important difference. The Mayor of SF has not yet been ordered by the Courts to stop. If he is, and he continues to issue the licenses, then I believe he's gone outside where his office is allowed to go. (When I say "he" here it's a bit confusing, because actually the Clerk issues them, but it's at the Mayor's instructions.)

Judge Moore's issue was that he directly disobeyed a ruling of a higher court. Our whole system is based on the premise that all parts of government will obey court rulings. If they don't, our system doesn't work anymore.

So Judge Moore was fine in interpreting the Alabama Constitution to require him to post the monument. He was not ok in defying a higher courts ruling that he was wrong and must stop.

Note this (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/19/national/19GAYS.html) article:

In the interview in his office in City Hall, [SF Mayor] Mr. Newsom ... promised to "step down" on the policy if the courts ruled against it, saying his main objective, to put a "human face" on the gay marriage debate nationwide, had been achieved.

That's the difference between this situation and Judge Moore.