Lawyers for Southwest Airlines have asked a judge to enter a judgment ordering the Dallas-based airline to pay one cent and reasonable attorneys’ fees to the American Alliance for Equal Rights to end its lawsuit over a defunct program that offered free flights to low-income Hispanic students traveling to visit their parents.
Southwest Airlines ended the charitable program “¡Lánzate!” — meaning “Take off!” — after political conservative activist Edward Blum’s AAER sued Southwest on behalf of a white student and an Asian student who claimed they were illegally denied benefits of the program. The AAER sought one cent in damages from Southwest.
Lawyers for Southwest previously argued, and Senior U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater agreed, that the AAER’s demand for injunctive relief was moot since the airline ended the program unconditionally in response to the litigation.
Southwest had sent a penny to AAER, which the Austin nonprofit organization returned. That amounted to an unaccepted settlement offer, Fitzwater wrote in his December order, concluding the entire case could not be rendered moot.
In its motion for summary judgment, Southwest last week asked the judge to enter a judgment for one cent in nominal damages without an admission of liability, which would mean the AAER prevails and may seek reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.
The AAER faces a May 15 deadline to respond. The alliance has previously argued the program violated the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Further, Southwest is legally prohibited from any form of racial or ethnic discrimination in its business practices because the airline has accepted money from the federal government, the AAER argued.
Also last week, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in the case and published a news release with Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division saying the department is “using all of the tools at our disposal” to end discrimination.
Blum, who took down affirmative action in college admissions, has recently been targeting diversity programs in corporations and law firms. This year, the AAER sued Fort Worth-based American Airlines and its supplier, Qurium Solutions, alleging the airline’s diversity policy for awarding certain contracts violates civil rights law. That case is before U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman.
The case against Southwest Airlines is American Alliance for Equal Rights v. Southwest Airlines, Northern District of Texas, Case No. 3:24-CV-1209.
The AAER is represented by Cameron T. Norris, Thomas R. McCarthy, Steven D. Begakis and R. Gabriel Anderson of Consovoy McCarthy and Adam K. Mortara of Lawfair.
Southwest Airlines is represented by Tristan Morales, Kimberly Williams and Anton Metlitsky of O’Melveny & Myers.