Southwest Airlines say a judge’s civil contempt order mandating that three of its senior attorneys attend “religious liberty” training violates the airline’s First Amendment right to disagree with the outcome of a flight attendant’s lawsuit asserting she was fired for expressing anti-abortion views.

The judge’s Aug. 7 order follow a 2022 jury verdict in favor of flight attendant Charlene Carter. The airline says it fired her for violating the airline’s employee civility policy by texting her co-worker a picture of an aborted fetus along with a hostile message disparaging their views.