Second Alabama justice sues over disciplinary investigation related to gay-marriage case
Justice Tom Parker of the Alabama Supreme Court has sued the judicial ethics commission that is investigating him for comments he made on a conservative radio talk show about the U.S. Supreme Court’s gay-marriage decision.
The suit filed by Liberty Counsel on Parker’s behalf against the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission claims the judicial canon at issue violates the First Amendment. The suit also challenges a state constitutional provision that requires the automatic suspension of a judge when the commission files ethics charges. How Appealing links to coverage by Al.com and the Montgomery Advertiser.
The Alabama canon is based on an old ABA model ethics rule that has since been revised by the ABA because it was “overbroad and unenforceable,” a press release says. According to Liberty Counsel, the canon bars judges from making public comments about pending or impending proceedings in any court, even if the proceeding is not pending before the judge making the comments, and even if the comments do not have a reasonable likelihood of affecting the case’s outcome or fairness.
Parker claims the probe has chilled his free-speech rights as he runs for re-election.
The Southern Poverty Law Center had sought the ethics probe for the radio show appearance. The group claimed Parker spoke favorably about precedent cited in a brief filed by two groups seeking to stop same-sex marriage in the state. Parker said there should be no “blanket defiance” of the U.S. Supreme Court, but resisting its gay-marriage decision “could maybe start a revival of what we need in this country to return to our founding principles.”
Liberty Counsel also represents Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in a suit against the Judicial Inquiry Commission. Moore was suspended as a result of pending ethics charges that he failed to follow clear precedent when he ordered probate judges to enforce the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.
