A court docket watchdog has filed a grievance towards the federal choose who ordered “religious-liberty coaching” for a trio of Southwest Airways attorneys as a part of their punishment for not totally following his orders in a case involving speech about abortion.
The chief of Repair the Court docket says U.S. District Decide Brantley Starr’s alternative of coaching carried out by a Christian legal-advocacy group is “unusual and unprecedented.”
Repair the Court docket, a small, nonpartisan group recognized largely for monitoring the U.S. Supreme Court docket, filed the judicial-misconduct petition Tuesday with the fifth Circuit Court docket of Attraction in New Orleans.
The group’s govt director, Gabe Roth, took explicit goal on the Dallas choose’s number of Alliance Defending Freedom to conduct day-long coaching for 3 Southwest attorneys in a case involving a flight attendant who mentioned she was fired for feedback objecting to abortion. The conservative ADF has represented shoppers opposing abortion, same-sex marriages and transgender rights.
Roth mentioned ethics coaching would have been positive, however the choose shouldn’t have ordered coaching run by any group tied to a specific religion.
“Starr’s order units a harmful precedent, and he deserves sanctions himself for this terrible judgment name,” he mentioned.
The choose ordered the coaching after Southwest modified the language of a discover that he ordered despatched to staff to clarify the authorized prohibition towards spiritual discrimination.
Southwest, based mostly in Dallas, has appealed the sanctions order and the trial victory of the fired flight attendant. A jury awarded her $5.1 million from Southwest and her union, however Starr decreased the award to about $800,000.
Former President Donald Trump nominated Starr for the bench in 2019.