Trump Appointed-Judge Orders Lawyers For Southwest Airlines To Attend ‘Religious-Liberty Training’ From A Pro-Life Conservative Legal Group
(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
A Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas instructed three attorneys for Southwest Airlines to attend “religious-liberty training” from a conservative legal advocacy group because the company allegedly disregarded the judge’s order in a religious discrimination case.
Earlier this week, District Judge Brantley Starr ordered that three attorneys for Southwest Airlines must attend courses offered by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group with a history of representing anti-LGBTQ organizations and pro-life groups.
Starr’s ruling relates to a case last year in which a jury found that the airline along with Transportation Union Workers discriminated against a flight attendant, Charlene Carter, when she was fired for expressing pro-life beliefs to her union president.
The judge then ordered Southwest to rehire Carter and as well as “inform Southwest flight attendants that, under Title VII, they may not discriminate against Southwest flight attendants for their religious practices and beliefs, including – but not limited to – those expressed on social media and those concerning abortion,” according to CNN.
However, the airline instead told its employees, in a memo written by Southwest attorneys Kerrie Forbes, Kevin Minchey, and Chris Maberry, that “Southwest does not discriminate against our Employees for their religious practices and beliefs.” The Judge also claims that the company sent another memo that “lambasts Carter.”
“It’s hard to see how Southwest could have violated the notice requirement more. Take these modified historical and movie anecdotes. After God told Adam, ‘[Y]ou must not eat from the tree [in the middle of the garden],’ imagine Adam telling God, ‘I do not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden’ – while an apple core rests at his feet. Or where Gandalf bellows, ‘You shall not pass,’ the Balrog muses, ‘I do not pass,’ while strolling past Gandalf on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm,” Starr wrote, according to CNN.
“The Court concludes that training on religious freedom for three lawyers at Southwest the Court finds responsible (Kerrie Forbes, Kevin Minchey, and Chris Maberry) is the least restrictive means of achieving compliance with the Court’s order,” Starr added. “The Alliance Defending Freedom (‘ADF’) has conducted such training in the past, and the Court deems that appropriate here.”
Per CNN:
In fillings submitted ahead of Monday’s order, attorneys for Southwest urged the judge not to order the trainings, saying that “ordering religious-liberty training would be an inappropriate remedy for the alleged civil contempt.”
“Although Southwest contends the Email Notice still substantially complied with the judgment, Southwest has already offered to purge this alleged contempt by providing a corrective notice replacing the ‘does not discriminate’ language with ‘may not discriminate,’” they wrote. “Put another way, there is no conduct for religious-liberty training to remedy.”
Starr said in his order that “this isn’t the first time an entity has needed religious-liberty training after it attempted to suppress speech,” and added that ADF is among other “esteemed non-profit organizations that are dedicated to preserving free speech and religious freedom.”
“And some of those entities laudably provide training free of charge for those who have struggled to respect religious liberties in the manner federal law requires,” he wrote.
The group said in a statement to CNN that it’s “pleased that the judge and jury protected the religious speech of the employee in this case.”
Starr’s training order says that the attorney must attend sessions for at least eight hours by August 28th. Moreover, Southwest Airlines must pay for travel and food accommodations for the ADF’s representative.
The airline plans to appeal Starr’s sanction along with his December ruling in the employee case.
