Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit against the state's Judicial Inquiry Commission, which has been investigating complaints that he violated judicial canons of ethics for statements he made about gay marriage.

The federal lawsuit follows one filed last month by Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was suspended after the JIC filed charges against him for an order he issued in January regarding gay marriage.

Liberty Counsel, the legal firm that also represents Moore, on Tuesday filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of Parker in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama in Montgomery.

The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of several speech restrictive Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics and the state law that automatically suspends a judge when JIC files charges. The judge can be re-instated depending on the outcome of a trial before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary.

As of late Wednesday afternoon the JIC had not leveled any charges against Parker.

"These provisions (of law) are being used by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and its allies on the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC) in an attempt to intimidate, silence, and punish Justice Parker for his originalist judicial philosophy and protected speech," according to a statement from Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel who represents both Moore and Parker.

In October the SPLC filed a judicial ethics complaint against Parker, claiming he inappropriately commented on pending same-sex marriage cases and voiced his personal opinions about the issue. The SPLC cited Parker's appearance on a conservative radio talk show.

"The SPLC, an advocacy organization that has a distinct animus against Justice Parker and his philosophy of constitutional interpretation, pursues an agenda to intimidate and vilify anyone who speaks out in any way (in its view) against the promotion of homosexuality and same-sex "marriage" ("SSM") or the "five lawyer" majority opinion of the United States Supreme Court in Obergefell," the lawsuit states.

Parker's lawsuit claims the free speech rights of Parker, who this year is running for re-election, have already been harmed and "significantly chilled" by the ongoing investigation against him by the JIC. "That harm is continuing and, in fact, increasing as the election approaches and forces him to engage in self-censorship," the lawsuit states.

"Justice Parker is facing a credible threat of sanction resulting from the JIC's ongoing investigation of him due to his protected speech, and no person--including a sitting judge and candidate for judicial office--should be forced to choose between speech and sanction," Parker's lawsuit states.

"The automatic disqualification (suspension) provision threatens to cause impending, imminent and irreparable harm to Justice Parker, a sitting justice on the state's highest court and a present candidate for retaining that judicial office, unless the automatic disqualification provision is struck down as unconstitutional," the lawsuit states.

Parker states in his lawsuit that the JIC informed him on Nov. 5, 2015, that it had decided to investigate the SPLC complaint charging that in his radio interview on October 6, 2015 Parker violated Canon 3A(6) by publicly commenting on a petition before regarding same sex marriage that was still pending before the Alabama Supreme Court.

Also, in that same interview he is alleged to have violated Canons 1 and 2A by making comments "that undermine the integrity of and public confidence in the integrity of the federal judiciary and the United States Supreme Court's interpretation of the Constitution in Obergefell v. Hodge (U.S. Supreme Court's gay marriage decision) ... suggesting that the Alabama Supreme Court should defy and refuse to give effect to the Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell."

The JIC has periodically notified Parker that it is continuing its investigation.

Moore also filed a lawsuit seeking to have the automatic suspension provision declared unconstitutional.

Meanwhile, Moore has been given an extra two weeks to respond to the judicial ethics charges leveled by the Judicial Inquiry Commission regarding an order he issued in opposition to gay marriage in January - also filed by the SPLC.

Moore did have 30 days - or until Tuesday June 7 - to respond to the Judicial Inquiry Commission's (JIC) charges, which were brought May 6. The charges center on Moore's alleged violation of judicial ethics when in January he advised probate judges in the state to ignore the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last year making same-sex marriage legal nationwide.

The federal judge handling Moore's lawsuit against JIC had not set a hearing on his request for an injunction as of late Wednesday.