Texas judge orders SWA lawyers to take religious liberty training from far-right hate group

[Pato del Muerto 52344]

So will they have to complete the training prior to their appeal being heard on whether they have to complete the training?

[South Austin 52159]

1 minute ago, Pato del Muerto said:

So will they have to complete the training prior to their appeal being heard on whether they have to complete the training?

It’s bullshit pettiness. There’s no timing reason why they need to undertake this training anytime soon. But by refusing to stay his sanctions order, under the threat of federal contempt powers, he’s trying to moot the appeal. Fucking weasel.

[chainsaw 9838]

9 minutes ago, South Austin said:

It’s bullshit pettiness. There’s no timing reason why they need to undertake this training anytime soon. But by refusing to stay his sanctions order, under the threat of federal contempt powers, he’s trying to moot the appeal. Fucking weasel.

I say fuckin do it

[Ghost of LL 15494]

2 hours ago, South Austin said:

It’s bullshit pettiness. There’s no timing reason why they need to undertake this training anytime soon. But by refusing to stay his sanctions order, under the threat of federal contempt powers, he’s trying to moot the appeal. Fucking weasel.

Yeah--and this is exactly when the court of appeals should administratively stay a district court's order in aid of its jurisdiction.

[chainsaw 9838]

I am not clear on why this "notice" to flight attendants is so important that changing "may not" to "does not" is worth all this spilled ink. It's definitely not a matter of common sense that making this edit is so offensive that the only way to fix the problem is by mandating a hate group seminar. In what way would that make the plaintiff whole?

[Rimbo 25786]

On 8/18/2023 at 10:03 AM, Ghost of LL said:

So it appears that they're not petitioning for mandamus.  It's just an appeal of the sanctions order.  I'm not exactly sure how that is jurisdictional under Section 1291, which limits appellate jurisdiction to "final orders" of the district court.  But I think it's a separate appeal from their appeal of the judgment under the collateral-order doctrine.

In any event, expect some real strategic action on the part of the Fifth Circuit judges on this.  They don't want this going to SCOTUS, because it's liable to make some real bad law for the Christian Nationalists.  It's going to be real interesting to see how they handle this.

As I said above, I'm mildly surprised they're appealing.  And as I said further above, the general corporate feel on this would be just to have the lawyers go do their day of religious indoctrination, because we're in the business of flying airplanes, not fighting culture wars.

But I'll also say that Southwest is a bit different from the standard corporate culture.  And the Southwest GC Department has traditionally been part of that.  They take very seriously the idea that "we stand up for our people."  We're not going to allow a nutbar flight attendant cyberbully her coworkers, even if Jesus told her to do so.  And we're not going to let a federal judge impose a plainly unconstitutional and illegal sanction on our in-house lawyers.

And yeah--it costs some money to stick up for your people.  But if you're loyal to your people, then they'll reciprocate.  You have their back--and they know you have their back--and they'll have yours.  But if you don't, then they won't.  

And so yeah--it costs some money.  But it's an investment.  And I think it's an investment that's important to make and that usually pays off.

I want to call out what Ghost is saying here. People have gotten short term-thinking so badly ingrained that they've forgotten how to actually build a business.

Sometimes short term costs become huge long term wins. If I'm surprised by this, it's that modern Southwest Airlines is actually making the right business decision here, for the reasons Ghost is describing.

[Rimbo 25786]

8 hours ago, wildcat09 said:

The very unsurprising update:

 

 

This judge seems like he sucks.

[TwiceHorn 31304]

3 hours ago, chainsaw said:

I am not clear on why this "notice" to flight attendants is so important that changing "may not" to "does not" is worth all this spilled ink. It's definitely not a matter of common sense that making this edit is so offensive that the only way to fix the problem is by mandating a hate group seminar. In what way would that make the plaintiff whole?

I think I read that the plaintiffs did not seek this sanction or attach any particular significance to it other than evidence of bad-faith compliance with the judgment and orders of the court.

I think this is basically a fit of judicial pique.

It appears that Squire Brantley has taken quite a personal interest in this case, denied summary judgment to SWA when he probably should have granted it and probably many other things that influenced the jury, etc.

[chainsaw 9838]

38 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I think I read that the plaintiffs did not seek this sanction or attach any particular significance to it other than evidence of bad-faith compliance with the judgment and orders of the court.

I think this is basically a fit of judicial pique.

It appears that Squire Brantley has taken quite a personal interest in this case, denied summary judgment to SWA when he probably should have granted it and probably many other things that influenced the jury, etc.

I thought it was weird that he's trying to debate the merits of SWA's appeal, as if it's somehow relevant to staying the mandatory jesus camp.

[Ghost of LL 15494]

The Fifth Circuit has stayed the contempt order, holding that the district court likely exceeded its legal authority.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca5.211751/gov.uscourts.ca5.211751.232.1.pdf

[Doc Sam Beckett 5784]

On 9/1/2023 at 1:36 PM, animaltobacco11 said:

@Lidig8rssssssssssssss Mount up.

It was a clear black night, clear white moon...

Lulz this was actually kinda funny. Rep to make you a little less dead 

[Brian Fantana 6668]

The best part about this thread is being reminded that slorch is gone

[TwiceHorn 31304]

13 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

The Fifth Circuit has stayed the contempt order, holding that the district court likely exceeded its legal authority.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca5.211751/gov.uscourts.ca5.211751.232.1.pdf

Gotdamn.  Took em long enough.  And you have to know Edith hated having to issue that order.