A case repeatedly broached during the U.S. Senate confirmation hearings, so far, has raised questions about the opinion of Judge Neil Gorsuch in the case dubbed the “frozen trucker.” The legal case was actually between Alphonse Maddin and his (now) former employer TransAm Trucking, Inc.

Case and effect of Gorsuch and the trucker

It is important to examine the effects of Gorsuch’s legal opinions. At the same time, however, other factors should not be overlooked at this time:

  1. Alphonse Maddin was not a “frozen trucker.” Rather, Maddin felt that he was freezing in freezing temperatures. Frozen was Ötzi, dubbed the “Iceman,” mummified and discovered in 1991 on the border between Austria and Italy.
  2. TransAm Trucking, Inc., may not be on a top ten list of U.S. employers when it comes employee satisfaction with company policies, particularly when one is alone and stuck in frigid weather.
  3. It is probably not good company PR for the refrain of U.S. Senate confirmation hearings to resound the record of the “frozen trucker,” which sends chills down many spines at the mere thought of someone freezing in sub-zero temperatures.
  4. Some people don’t take kindly to a U.S. transportation company that may leave employees feeling as though they may as well be driving for Trans-Siberian Trucking.
  5. The case of TransAm Trucking, Inc. v. Administrative Review Board, United States Department of Labor is like a roll of toilet paper – on someone’s heel, and it keeps unraveling and takes an endless time to shake loose.
  6. The U.S. Senate confirmation hearings featuring a case that seems frozen in time is not an ideal hiring tool for a transportation company.
  7. Many people will long remember the case of the “frozen trucker” and the company that ordered him to stay with his haul in the freezing weather.

Conclusions should not be drawn prematurely about U.S. Senate confirmation hearings

Out of 212 published appellate opinions by Gorsuch, a single case should not be the determinant of whether the U.S. Judiciary Committee confirms and allows him to fill the high court seat left vacant following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
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