Alabama Justice Tom Parker files lawsuit over speech restrictions

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Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore
Photo Credit: Getty Images/Matthew Cavanaugh

A bench ally of suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has filed a federal lawsuit challenging what he called the state’s unconstitutional restrictions on judges’ speech.

Associate Justice Tom Parker filed the lawsuit Wednesday against the state’s Judicial Inquiry Commission. The lawsuit challenges speech restrictions in the canons of judicial ethics.

The Southern Poverty Law Center in 2015 filed a complaint against Parker over remarks he made on a conservative talk show criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage.

Moore was automatically suspended from office after the Judicial Inquiry Commission brought charges that Moore violated judicial ethics in his actions related to the fight over same-sex marriage.

Parker’s lawsuit also challenges the automatic suspension provision.

Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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