Today Liberty Counsel filed a response in the federal lawsuit on behalf of Tom Parker, Associate Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Justice Parker not only challenges the speech restriction Canon 3 on First Amendment grounds, but he also challenges the Alabama Constitution’s automatic removal provision that requires judges be automatically removed when the Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC) issues a charge.

A complaint against Parker was filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), claiming comments he made on the American Family Radio talk show regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s marriage opinion violated Canon 3(A)(6) of the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics. Canon 3(A)(6) purports to prohibit Alabama judges from making “any public comment about a pending or impending proceeding in any court,” even if such proceeding is not pending before the judge making the comments, and even if the judge’s comments do not have a reasonable likelihood of affecting the outcome or impairing the fairness of that proceeding. The provision is so broad it prohibits a judge who teaches law school students from commenting on any case pending in any court anywhere in the country. The American Bar Association has stated this broad speech restriction violates the First Amendment.

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