Judge Charles Price, a circuit court judge in Montgomery, Alabama, was honored in 1997 for his devotion to the principles of the American Constitution that compelled him to rule that a fellow circuit court judge's courtroom display of the Ten Commandments for religious purposes was a violation of the First Amendment.

In 1995, Etowah County (Alabama) Judge Roy Moore was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of two Etowah County residents for opening court sessions with exclusively Christian prayer and for displaying the Ten Commandments behind his bench. The original lawsuit was dismissed, but Governor Fob James and the State of Alabama filed suit against Judge Moore, the ACLU and the American Freethought Association in an effort to get a state judge to rule whether or not Judge Moore’s actions were unconstitutional. In September 1996, all parties agreed to forego a trial and let Montgomery County Circuit Judge Charles Price decide the issue.

Judge Price ruled in November 1996 that although prayer in the courtroom is unconstitutional, Judge Moore’s display of the Ten Commandments could remain. After visiting the courtroom in February 1997, however, Judge Price reversed his earlier ruling and found that the two plaques containing the Ten Commandments violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the Constitution of Alabama. Judge Price ordered Judge Moore to either remove the Ten Commandments or place them in a more historical context by displaying them with other symbols of law such as the Bill of Rights.