Alabama Justice Tom Parker Appeals Speech Restriction and Removal Provision

MONTGOMERY, AL - Last night, Justice Tom Parker of the Alabama Supreme Court appealed his challenge to the speech restrictive Canon 3 and the Alabama Constitution's automatic removal provision that requires judges be suspended 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 a 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. Parker is not charged by the JIC; but if charged, he would be suspended. Liberty Counsel filed a federal lawsuit challenging Canon 3 and the automatic removal provision. Federal Judge Keith Watkins acknowledged "the First Amendment issues that arise when the SPLC, in a political season, attempts to use an agency of state government to suppress speech with which the SPLC disagrees," but he chose to "abstain" from deciding the issue, saying that Parker can raise these claims in the JIC or, if charged, in the Court of the Judiciary. He did not rule on the merits of the case. Liberty Counsel immediately filed an appeal to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. "Justice Parker should not have to wait to be charged and suspended in order to challenge an unconstitutional restriction on his speech," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "The judicial canon that prohibits judges from commenting on any case anywhere in the country is patently unconstitutional. Every judge who teaches law school students is silenced by this broad restriction on speech. This speech restriction and the automatic removal provision must be struck down. We will now take this case to the court of appeals. This urgent matter affects every judge," said Staver.

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