Montgomery, Ala. ? Alabama’s associate Supreme Court justices ordered the Ten Commandments monument removed from the rotunda of the state judicial building Thursday, despite Chief Justice Roy Moore’s fiery defense of his 5,300-pound granite marker.

As supporters prayed on the building’s steps, Moore criticized his colleagues’ decision and said the federal judge who had ordered the monument moved had put himself “above God.”

“I will never deny the God upon whom our laws and country depend,” Moore said before supporters who cheered and prayed on the building’s steps.

The monument was still in the building’s rotunda early Thursday evening, and court officials did not say when or where it would be moved.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson, who had ruled the monument’s placement violated the Constitution’s ban on government promotion of a religious doctrine, has said it could be moved to a private place still within the building. He had threatened $5,000-a-day fines if Moore left the monument in the public rotunda.

Moore installed the monument two years ago and contends it represents the moral foundation of American law.

“Not only did Judge Thompson put himself above the law, but above God as well,” Moore told his supporters Thursday.

The chief justice had appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the removal order, but the court rejected it Wednesday. Moore said Thursday he would file a formal appeal with the high court soon “to defend our constitutional right to acknowledge God.”

“I cannot forsake my conscience,” he said.

His supporters, meanwhile, promised to block any effort to remove the monument.

“We will kneel at the doors. We will prevent forklifts or trucks from coming in,” said Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, which is organizing around-the-clock demonstrations.

Moore’s eight colleagues on the state Supreme Court intervened after Thompson’s midnight deadline for removing the monument passed.