Theocrats put pressure on the courts, in Iraq and the U.S.:

NAJAF, Iraq, July 30 — The United States Marine colonel supervising the reconstruction of this Shiite holy city's government indefinitely postponed the swearing in of its first-ever female judge today after her appointment provoked a wave of resentment, including fatwas from senior Islamic clerics and heated protests by the city's lawyers....

"There is a woman on the Governing Council and nobody batted an eye," said Lt. Col. Christopher C. Conlin, the senior commanding officer here. "Sometimes you just don't know until you hit a point of sensitivity."...

--New York Times

It's odd that the colonel was surprised. American theocrats issue religious fatwas, too:

In what critics are describing as an unprecedented challenge to judicial power, the House of Representatives last week overwhelmingly approved two legislative amendments aimed at short-circuiting a pair of high-profile court rulings regarding church-state issues.

In a 260-161 vote, the House approved an amendment to an appropriations bill July 23 that would prohibit the use of federal funds to enforce a recent 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision calling for the removal of a Ten Commandments monument from Alabama's judicial building. A day earlier, in an even more lopsided 307-119 vote, the House adopted a similar amendment regarding the enforcement of a federal court ruling in California forbidding the recitation in public schools of the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance....

"Courts have to be able to enforce their decisions. What they're saying here is that if the states disregarded Brown v. Board of Education, Congress could have prohibited the enforcement of Brown, and I think that raises serious separation of powers questions," said University of Southern California law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, referring to the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision prohibiting school segregation. "On the other hand, I think that this is purely a symbolic show by the House, because marshals aren't going to be called out to enforce these decisions."...

--The Forward (New York)

By the way, I wouldn't be too sure those marshals won't be needed in the Ten Commandments case.

The Christian Defense Coalition and National Clergy Council will lead an effort in recruiting activists to "kneel in prayer" around preventing the removal of the 10 Commandments from the Alabama Supreme Court. The Coalition will discuss these plans at a news conference on Monday, July 28, at 10 a.m. on the steps of the Alabama State Judiciary Building in Montgomery, Ala.

The Washington, D.C.-based groups applaud the courage of Chief Justice Roy Moore in his fight to keep the Commandments in the Court. Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, said, "It is now time for the Church to stand and peacefully resist this kind of judicial tyranny, which crushes free speech and religious expression in the public square."

--press release posted at usnewswire.com

That's what's going on even before Judge Moore has exhausted all avenues of appeal. I don't want to think about what will happen if the U.S. Supreme Court rules against him.