× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

A Pinedale magistrate’s constitutional rights to free speech and religious freedom do not allow her to refuse to marry gay couples, the Wyoming judicial ethics commission argues in a brief filed before the state Supreme Court.

The Wyoming Supreme Court will decide if Pinedale municipal judge and circuit court magistrate Ruth Neely should be removed from her position.

Neely’s constitutional rights do not “exempt her from complying with the Wyoming Code of Judicial Conduct, which prohibits such conduct by a judge and to which she swore her oath to abide by as a judicial officer for the State of Wyoming,” the Wyoming Commission on Judicial Conduct and Ethics wrote in a brief filed Wednesday.

The brief comes in response to a document filed by Neely in April in which she fought the judicial ethics commission’s recommendation to remove her from office. Neely is being represented by attorneys from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group.