May 8 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Thursday said

a federal judge in Texas lacked the power to order in-house

lawyers at Southwest Airlines ( LUV ) to attend "religious liberty

training" after a flight attendant won a religious

discrimination lawsuit.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S.

Circuit Court of Appeals said the 2023 ruling by U.S. District

Judge Brantley Starr would do little to compensate the

plaintiff, Charlene Carter, or compel compliance with an order

barring Southwest ( LUV ) from engaging in discrimination.

After a jury found for Carter, Starr ruled that Southwest ( LUV ) had

not complied with his orders and held the airline in contempt.

In an unusual move, he ordered the lawyers to attend an

eight-hour training conducted by Alliance Defending Freedom, a

conservative Christian group that is routinely involved in

high-profile court cases on abortion and religious liberties.

"When a court's contempt sanction in a civil matter is both

overbroad in scope and undoubtedly punitive in nature, the

judiciary risks appearing contemptuous," Circuit Judge Edith

Brown Clement wrote.

The 5th Circuit last year had blocked Starr's ruling pending

appeal, so the lawyers were never required to attend the

training.

The court upheld the jury's finding that Southwest ( LUV ) had

discriminated against Carter based on her religious practice,

but reversed a separate finding of discrimination based on her

religious beliefs.

Southwest ( LUV ) and the National Right to Work Legal Defense

Foundation, which represents Carter, did not immediately respond

to requests for comment.

Carter in a 2017 lawsuit accused Southwest ( LUV ) of firing her for

objecting on religious grounds to her union's participation in a

protest for which Planned Parenthood was a sponsor. Carter, who

also sued her union, says she is a Christian who opposes

abortion.

Starr in 2023 awarded her $800,000 in damages and ordered

Southwest ( LUV ) to reinstate her after a jury ruled in her favor.

Later that year, the judge said that instead of notifying

employees of their rights against religious discrimination, as

he had ordered Southwest ( LUV ) to do, in-house lawyers penned a memo

warning workers not to violate company civility policies that

led to Carter's firing. He required the training as a sanction.

Carter's lawyers defended the decision on appeal, arguing

that Southwest ( LUV ) in the memo suggested that it had not violated

the law and could continue discriminating against employees. The

5th Circuit on Thursday disagreed.

"The sanction plainly exceeded remedial bounds and sought to

punish Southwest's ( LUV ) attorneys through a directive that did little

to coerce the airline's compliance with the district court's

judgment," wrote Clement, an appointee of Republican former

President George W. Bush.

She was joined by Circuit Judges Kurt Engelhardt and Cory

Wilson, who are both appointees of President Donald Trump, a

Republican.

The case is Carter v. Local 556, Transport Workers Union of

America, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 23-10008.

For Carter: Matthew Gilliam of the National Right to Work

Legal Defense Foundation

For Southwest ( LUV ): Shay Dvoretzky of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher

& Flom

For the union: Adam Greenfield of Cloutman & Greenfield

Read more:

Southwest ( LUV ) wins pause on 'religious liberty' order in

worker's bias case

Southwest Airlines ( LUV ) lawyers win reprieve from religious

liberty training order

Religious rights group says it's qualified to train

Southwest Airlines ( LUV ) lawyers

Judge pauses ruling ordering 'religious liberty training'

for Southwest ( LUV ) lawyers

Judge rejects Southwest's ( LUV ) 'gripe' over religious liberty

training order

Complaint filed over US judge's 'strange' Southwest ( LUV )

religious liberty training order