Christian flight attendants fired by Alaska Airlines after privately challenging its support for sweeping federal LGBTQ legislation hit a brick wall with a federal judge nominated by former President Jimmy Carter, who was so unimpressed by their evidence of religious discrimination by the company and Association of Flight Attendants that she dismissed their case with prejudice.
Fifteen months later, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals suggested at oral argument that U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein had badly botched the case and a jury should decide the matter, repeatedly warning lawyers for the company and union against overconfidence in their interpretation of evidence.
The Seattle-based carrier also faces a tough precedent from another recent 9th Circuit decision. A panel led by Democratic nominees reinstated a lawsuit against an Oregon school district by Christian educators who were fired for lobbying colleagues against a proposed gender identity policy and making an accompanying video lacking their affiliation.
Nominated by President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump, the three appellate judges judges earlier this month read aloud officials’ quotes that they said a jury could interpret as contempt for the religious beliefs of Lacey Smith and Marli Brown, and as tacit agreement between Alaska and the union that the plaintiffs would not receive a robust defense. The messages in question were expressed on an internal message board.
The panel emphasized that Alaska Airlines invited comment from employees when it praised the Equality Act, which would open women’s spaces to males on the basis of gender identity, on the Alaska World network the day it passed the Democrat-controlled U.S. House in 2021.
Communications between union leaders are “really, really bad for you,” Judge Kenneth Lee, one of two Trump nominees, told AFA lawyer Ben Berger.
AFA rep Terry Taylor asked if they could “put Marli and Lacey in a burlap bag and drop them in a well,” while governing body President Jeffrey Peterson said Smith’s post was “reprehensible and there should be repercussions.”
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Author: Marty Kaufmann
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