In 2015, the alt-left Southern Poverty Law Center convinced Alabama’s Judicial Inquiry Commission to investigate state Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker over his speech on same-sex marriage.
The Judicial Inquiry Commission should have taken 5 minutes to debunk SPLC’s politically-motivated ethics claim. Instead, they conducted a year-long investigation. The investigation caused Justice Parker to hire his own lawyers to defend himself against the frivolous claims.
The SPLC wanted to silence Justice Parker in the same way they try to silence many other people. Besides silencing him, they also wanted to have him kicked off the Alabama Supreme Court.
Justice Parker said, “The Southern Poverty Law Center has tried to throw me off the bench for giving my opinion on one of the most significant judicial issues of our time – a five-to-four Supreme Court decision forcing states to accept gay marriage without any apparent Constitutional authority to do so.”
The SPLC Penalty
The alt-left Southern Poverty Law Center’s perverse plan failed. The state’s Judicial Inquiry Commission was forced to pay Justice Parker’s lawyers, Liberty Counsel, a $100,000 penalty.
The settlement agreement, submitted to the federal court for approval, shows the state JIC agrees to pay $100,000 legal fees, and it will also stop enforcing the unconstitutional speech-restricting judicial rules.
The SPLC designates organizations that promote traditional moral values as “hate groups.”
Speaking about the case, Horatio Mihet, chief litigation counsel for Liberty Counsel said the SPLC’s sinister plan backfired spectacularly. He said, “The SPLC’s effort to muzzle Justice Parker has instead brought freedom of expression on critical public issues to all judges in Alabama. We are glad that the JIC has finally seen the proverbial writing on the wall and has abandoned its defense and enforcement of these unconstitutional laws.”
Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel founder, spoke about this agreement with JIC. He said it is “an important victory for free speech, not just for Justice Tom Parker, but for all judges.”
The unconstitutional state rules gave the JIC power to prevent judges from commenting on any case or issue pending nationwide. The agreement forces Alabama to stop using those rules, just as many other states have already done.
Justice Roy Moore
SPLC also used their “complaint” tactic against former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.
That SPLC tactic lead to the removal of Roy Moore from office15 years ago, over the Ten Commandments. Alabama voters later put Moore back in office. SPLC did not give up and removed Moore a second time, over the same-sex marriage issue.
Read a Worldnet daily story for additional in-depth information about SPLC and this case.
