Is Religious Liberty Training Good for Woke Attorneys?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns freedom of religion. In 2017, Charlene Carter, pro-life flight attendant for Southwest Airlines, was fired because she disagreed with the purposes for which her union dues were being spent. She went on social media to voice her concern about her dues being used to send the president of the union to the Women’s March in Washington, D.C. She did not want her dues to be used to support pro-abortion causes. 

According to an article by Nicole Russell in The Daily Signal, Carter hired an attorney and filed a claim for discrimination against her “due to her pro-life beliefs rooted in her religious beliefs.” The jury awarded $5.2 million to Carter, but U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr reduced the amount to “$800,000, to align with federal limits on punitive damages.” Starr also ordered Southwest to rehire Carter.

Judge Starr also order the three lawyers representing Southwest Airlines to take eight hours of “religious-liberty training from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative nonprofit law firm that specializes in First Amendment law” before August 28.  ADF is the nonprofit law firm that has represented several other people fighting religious liberty cases. It is “best known for its wins at the Supreme Court in both Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission and 303 Creative v. Elenis.”

“[T]he 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 wrote in his ruling. “The Alliance Defending Freedom (‘ADF’) has conducted such training in the past, and the Court deems that appropriate here.”

Southwest announced Tuesday that it would appeal Starr’s ruling, but it seems logical and sensible, and it’s not overwrought. But some in the left-of-center media reacted to the sanctions with outrage and disdain over both this particular kind of “diversity training” and the group the judge prescribed for providing it; namely, the ADF.

Russell wrote that “Southwest was found to be in serious violation of Carter’s religious liberties.” She indicated that the judge’s decision was an appropriate consequence because the training would help the Southwest attorneys to better “understand what the concept of religious liberty entails within the First Amendment.”

Russell also showed her approval for the training to take place at Alliance Defending Freedom because ADF “has won 15 cases at the Supreme Court on issues just like this.” ADF is a “highly specialized law firm of attorneys and staff who understand and respect the authority of the First Amendment, especially as it relates to free speech or free exercise of religion cases.