Supreme Court

Justice Gorsuch Jokes About 'Frozen Trucker' Case At Fed Soc Dinner

If you recall, this was the case that gave him a lot of trouble during his confirmation hearing.

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(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

One, the law is telling me to do something really, really stupid. Two, the law is constitutional and I have no choice but to do that really stupid thing the law requires. And three, when it’s done, everyone who’s not a lawyer is going to think I just hate truckers.

— Justice Neil Gorsuch, joking about his dissent in the TransAm Trucking v. Administrative Review Board (what’s come to be known as the “frozen trucker” case) during the Federalist Society’s Antonin Scalia Memorial Dinner. In his dissent, Gorsuch said an employer could legally fire a trucker who nearly froze to death for abandoning his truck because the law only prohibited a dismissal for the refusal to operate a truck due to safety concerns. The “frozen trucker” case became a point of contention during his confirmation hearing, but at last night’s Fed Soc event, Gorsuch said it stood for the fact that judges are not supposed to make law, but follow it. He later promised that “under [his] watch,” originalism and textualism wouldn’t be going anywhere.

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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