The leader of a court watchdog group has filed a judicial misconduct complaint against the federal judge who earlier this month ordered three in-house attorneys at Southwest Airlines to undertake religious liberty training.
Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court, filed the complaint against U.S. Judge Brantley Starr with the Judicial Council of the Fifth Circuit.
Starr issued the religious liberty training order in a case in which he ruled that Southwest had failed, as required by the judge, to properly notify its flight attendants that it may not discriminate against their Title VII rights.
The Northern District of Texas judge tasked the Alliance Defending Freedom, which has been involved in Christian legal advocacy efforts, with providing the Southwest lawyers with eight hours of religious liberty training.
Roth wrote in his complaint that “under no circumstances should a sectarian organization such as ADF, or any sectarian organization of any faith, be responsible for carrying out any aspect of attorney sanctions.”
“Starr’s order sets a dangerous precedent, and he deserves sanctions himself for this awful judgment call,” Roth said.
Roth also said Starr “should be compelled not to assign such a strange and unprecedented penalty again.”
Some legal experts had previously called Starr’s order unusual but not out of bounds.
On Thursday, Starr issued an administrative stay of his order for 30 days in response to a court filing from Southwest. The airline had previously stated it planned to appeal Starr’s contempt order.
The plaintiff in the case has been given until Aug. 24 to respond to Southwest’s motion regarding the stay.
Policy violation
The underlying case featured a flight attendant, Charlene Carter, who alleged she was improperly fired several years ago for expressing her anti-abortion views on social media. Southwest claimed the messages violated its social-media policies regarding civility.
A jury found that Southwest violated Carter’s protections for religious speech under Title VII.
Starr ordered Carter reinstated and enjoined Southwest from discriminating against the religious beliefs of its flight attendants. The judge reduced Carter’s $5.1 million jury award to about $800,000.
The judge also ordered Southwest to notify its flight attendants of Title VII’s prohibition on religious discrimination.
Instead, the airline notified flight attendants that the court “ordered us to inform you that Southwest does not discriminate against our Employees for their religious practices and beliefs.”
Starr criticized the airline’s legal department in the August ruling that found the airline in civil contempt.
“It’s hard to see how Southwest could have violated the notice requirement more,” Starr wrote.
Remedies
In response to his contempt finding, Starr ordered the three Southwest attorneys responsible for the communications at issue — Kerrie Forbes, Kevin Minchey and Chris Maberry — to participate in the religious liberty training.
He called this approach “the least restrictive means of achieving compliance with the Court’s order.”
The judge noted he was not requiring Southwest to pay for training, but for the airline “to arrange for a representative of ADF to fly to Dallas.”
Additionally, Starr ordered Southwest to cover Carter’s legal fees and costs in connection with her motion for contempt and motion to compel.
He also ordered Southwest to provide a new notice to its flight attendants stating that the airline “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.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, as well as the Judicial Council of the Fifth Circuit, may both play roles in determining whether Starr’s order went too far.
