The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled in favor of a judge cited for writing a letter to a newspaper in which he referred to homosexuality as a mental illness.
The court said Justice Court Judge Connie Glen Wilkerson did not violate the Code of Judicial Conduct, according to his legal representative, the American Family Association Center for Law and Policy.
Wilkerson had repeated his opinion in an interview with Mississippi Public Radio.
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a homosexual activist group, promptly filed a complaint with the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance, alleging multiple ethical violations.
After a hearing, the commission recommended that Wilkerson be disciplined for his comments.
The state Supreme Court, however, in a 5-2 decision Thursday, held that the judge’s speech was protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The court said the commission’s application of the canon against Wilkerson, insisting that a judge avoid even the appearance of impropriety, “constitutes a prior restraint on his right to publicly state his political and religious views.”
“The court’s ruling reaffirmed the right of every American, even a sitting judge, to speak his mind on the issues of the day,” said Stephen Crampton, chief counsel for the AFA law center. “Judge Wilkerson’s private letter to the newspaper expressed his deeply held religious convictions about homosexuality; they should never have been made the subject of this inquisition in the first place.”
