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Montgomery, Ala. • Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore will appear before a judicial discipline panel Wednesday to answer accusations that he tried to block gay couples from marrying in the Deep South state.

The outspoken Republican jurist could be removed from office for the second time in 13 years if the Court of the Judiciary finds he violated the state's canons of judicial ethics.

Moore is accused of urging Alabama's 68 probate judges to refuse marriage licenses to gay couples in defiance of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Moore has vehemently denied the accusation, saying he never told probate judges what they should do on the subject of gay marriage.

The charges against Moore stem from a January administrative order he sent probate judges. Moore said a prior Alabama Supreme Court order from March to refuse marriage licenses to gay couples had not been lifted and remained in "full force and effect." The nine-member Court of the Judiciary will weigh the intent with the memo: Was it a defiant effort to try to block gay marriage or, as Moore contends, a status report in response to probate judges' questions about the order. ?

"He merely gave a status report on the pending case and the JIC overstepped its authority to bring these politically-motivated charges," said Moore's attorney Mat Staver.

Staver said probate judges were asking questions because the Alabama Supreme Court had not lifted the order after indicating they would make a decision.

John Carroll, a lawyer for the Judicial Inquiry Commission — the group that brought the charges against Moore — told the court last month that Moore's purpose was clear and now he is trying to "pretend away" the charges.

"He was on a mission not to recognize federal law on same-sex couples," Carroll told the court in a hearing last month.

The accusations against Moore come during a season of political upheaval in Alabama. The state's house speaker was removed from office this summer for ethics violations and a committee is investigating if there are grounds to impeach Gov. Robert Bentley after he was accused of having an affair with a top staffer.

Moore has the opportunity to take the witness stand in the trial-like proceeding although it is unclear if he will do so.

Rainbow flags dotted one side of the street outside the judicial building as Moore supporters blared Christian music, blew a ram's horn and said prayers on the steps hours ahead of the hearing that will decide the fate of the polarizing political figure.

"Equal marriage is the law. Love will always win," Madison Clark of Montgomery said as she wore a version of the rainbow flag draped across her shoulders.

Demonstrators in support of Moore said they thought he was being falsely accused or said they were against homosexuality.

"The truth is homosexuality is wrong," said Donna Holman who traveled 12 hours from Iowa to support Moore and carried a sign saying "It's not Ok to be gay."

Other Moore supporters tried to distance themselves from the ones that waved signs such as "Sodomy ruins nations."

Hannah Ford of the Sanctity of Marriage group joined with a few demonstrators from both sides to pray for a peaceful day after a Moore supporter heckled a widowed gay man an earlier hearing.

Ford said the two sides can disagree without resulting to hate.

Moore, previously best known for his defiant display of a Ten Commandments monument at the state house, returned to national prominence during the legal wrangling in Alabama over same-sex marriage.

The Court of the Judiciary in 2003 removed Moore as chief justice after he refused to obey a federal court order to remove the Ten Commandments monument from the lobby of the state judicial building. He was re-elected in 2012.

It requires a unanimous vote on the nine-member Court of the Judiciary to remove Moore from office.