Report: GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore previously ruled lesbian couldn't see kids unsupervised

What happened?

On the same day news surfaced of sexual assault allegations against Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore, CNN released a report after reviewing old court documents that show Moore ruled in the 1990s as a circuit judge that a woman in a divorce case who had a lesbian affair could not see her children unsupervised.

What were the details of the case?

In the 1996 divorce case of Suzanne Scott Borden, Moore was initially asked by Borden's lawyers to recuse himself because of his strong opposition to homosexuality. Moore denied that request, and eventually issued a temporary ruling that gave Borden's estranged husband full custody, ordering Borden to pay $126 a week in child support. He also ruled that Borden would be prohibited from seeing her children unsupervised, overnight, or in the presence of her lesbian partner.

"The court strongly feels that the minor children will be detrimentally affected by the present lifestyle of [Mrs. Borden] who has engaged in a homosexual relationship during her marriage, forbidden both by the laws of the State of Alabama and the Laws of Nature," Moore wrote in his decision.

Borden's attorneys brought the case to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, accusing Moore of showing personal bias and prejudice against Borden. Borden also signed an affidavit alleging while she was sitting outside his office, she heard Moore refer to gay people in a derogatory manner.

"This goes to show that this is evil. They are wrong and of Satan," Moore said, according to Borden's account.

Moore denied the statement, and the court ultimately removed him from the case. Although Moore appealed the recusal, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, and the case was heard without Moore.