--- title: Candidate Roy Moore Criticizes NFL Players Taking a Knee description: Senate candidate Roy Moore says that players protesting by not standing during the national anthem are breaking the law. canonical: https://time.com/4987441/roy-moore-nfl-protests-law/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-18T15:46:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T02:29:14.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Roy Moore Says NFL Protesters Are Breaking the Law og:description: 'If we don’t respect the law, what kind of country are we going to have?' og:url: https://time.com/4987441/roy-moore-nfl-protests-law/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6dd2227b58217f8/6988e268929fad68e5bee222/gettyimages-853873572.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Alabama GOP Senate Candidate Roy Moore Holds Campaign Event In Fairhope, Alabama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Roy Moore Says NFL Protesters Are Breaking the Law twitter:description: 'If we don’t respect the law, what kind of country are we going to have?' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6dd2227b58217f8/6988e268929fad68e5bee222/gettyimages-853873572.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Senate Candidate Roy Moore Says NFL Protesters Are Breaking the Law > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Roy Moore Pulls Gun Out On Stage During Alabama Rally [Watch (HLS stream): Roy Moore Pulls Gun Out On Stage During Alabama Rally](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/n4N0EFzo.m3u8) (0:28)  _Published 2017-09-26. On Tuesday, voters in Alabama will choose between two very different political styles: a flame-throwing wild card and an Establishment-backed reliable vote._ by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Updated: Dec 13, 2023 2:29 AM UTCPublished: Oct 18, 2017 3:46 PM UTC  Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Alabama, Roy Moore, speaks at a campaign rally on September 25, 2017 in Fairhope, Alabama. Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Alabama, Roy Moore, speaks at a campaign rally on September 25, 2017 in Fairhope, Alabama.Scott Olson—Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Updated: Dec 13, 2023 2:29 AM UTCPublished: Oct 18, 2017 3:46 PM UTC Senate candidate Roy Moore believes that professional athletes who take a knee during the national anthem are breaking the law. In an interview with TIME magazine, the Alabama Republican argued that NFL players and others who have protested police violence are violating [a section of the U.S. code](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/36/301) which outlines how people should conduct themselves when the anthem is played. (The code merely outlines proper etiquette, and there are no legal penalties outlined in the law.) “It’s against the law, you know that?” he said. “It was a act of Congress that every man stand and put their hand over their heart. That’s the law.” In 2016, then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback [Colin Kaepernick](http://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/4736257/colin-kaepernick/) began taking a knee during the national anthem. While campaigning for Moore’s primary opponent in Alabama in September, President Trump [argued](http://time.com/4960638/donald-trump-latest-battle-against-nfl/) that NFL players who take a knee should be fired, setting off a national controversy. [_Read a Transcript of Roy Moore’s Interview With TIME_](http://time.com/4987125/roy-moore-alabama-interview/) “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!'” [Trump said](http://time.com/4954684/donald-trump-nfl-speech-anthem-protests/). Moore, who gained national notoriety when he [defied a court order](http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,480444,00.html) to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from courthouse grounds and later when he continued to [enforce a gay-marriage ban](http://time.com/3701176/roy-moore-alabama-same-sex-marriage-supreme-court/) that had been overturned by the Supreme Court, said he fully supports Trump’s criticism. “I back the President in upholding respect for the patriotism for our country, on two grounds,” he said. “One, it’s respect for the law. If we don’t respect the law, what kind of country are we going to have? Two, it’s respect for those who have fallen and given the ultimate sacrifice. I’m surprised that no one brought this up.” He added that it’s a matter of the “the rule of law.” “If they didn’t have it in there, it would just be tradition. But this is law,” he said. “If we disobey this, what else are we going to disobey? ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4987441/roy-moore-nfl-protests-law/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4987441/roy-moore-nfl-protests-law/"},"headline":"Senate Candidate Roy Moore Says NFL Protesters Are Breaking the Law","datePublished":"2017-10-18T15:46:29.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T02:29:14.000Z","description":"'If we don’t respect the law, what kind of country are we going to have?'","url":"https://time.com/4987441/roy-moore-nfl-protests-law/","keywords":["Congress","NFL","justice","Donald Trump","Roy Moore","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6dd2227b58217f8/6988e268929fad68e5bee222/gettyimages-853873572.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6dd2227b58217f8/6988e268929fad68e5bee222/gettyimages-853873572.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Alabama GOP Senate Candidate Roy Moore Holds Campaign Event In Fairhope, Alabama","caption":"Alabama GOP Senate Candidate Roy Moore Holds Campaign Event In Fairhope, Alabama","creditText":"Scott Olson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4987441/roy-moore-nfl-protests-law/","name":"Senate Candidate Roy Moore Says NFL Protesters Are Breaking the Law"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Roy Moore Pulls Gun Out On Stage During Alabama Rally","description":"On Tuesday, voters in Alabama will choose between two very different political styles: a flame-throwing wild card and an Establishment-backed reliable vote.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/n4N0EFzo/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-09-26T15:08:02.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/n4N0EFzo.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4987441/roy-moore-nfl-protests-law/","duration":"PT28S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4987441/roy-moore-nfl-protests-law/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```