There's a trend:
1. An excavator operator died on the job after being electrocuted by an overhead power line at a surface mine site. The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission investigated, finding a serious violation of safety regulations and imposed on the employer a $5,550 fine, which the employer appealed. While the majority of the court upheld the commission's findings against the employer, Gorsuch dissented, contending that this case was yet another example of administrative agencies wielding "remarkable powers" and "penalizing" the company even when no evidence existed. (Compass Environmental Inc. v. OSHRC, 10th Circuit, 2011)
2. In NLRB v. Community Health Services, the majority deferred to the expertise of the National Labor Relations Board, ruling that workers' interim earnings should be disregarded when calculating back pay awards where a hospital unlawfully reduced work hours. The NLRB reasoned that, on balance, workers who take on additional outside jobs should retain the benefit of their "extra effort," not "recalcitrant" employers. Gorsuch disagreed and dissented, observing that the NLRB's "statutory charge isn't to promote full employment....It's not some sort of reincarnation of the Works Progress Administration." (NLRB v. Community Health Services Inc., 10th Circuit, 2016)
3. In Strickland v. UPS, the court majority found that a woman driver fired by her company had sufficient evidence to challenge that firing based on sex discrimination. The trucker's evidence included co-workers who testified that she was treated differently than her male co-workers and that only she regularly had to attend individual meetings and counseling sessions on sales performance. Gorsuch, however, stridently dissented, finding such evidence "absent." (Strickland v. UPS, 10th Circuit, 2009)
6. In private practice, Gorsuch filed an amicus brief, again opposing class actions in securities litigation as burdensome on business, on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an organization that represents the interests of Big Business and seeks to undermine worker protections. (Brief of Amicus Curiae for the United States Chamber of Commerce, Dura Pharm. Inc. v. Broudo, 2005). In a 2005 article discussing the Broudo case, Gorsuch attacked plaintiffs' lawyers who represented investors in securities class actions as seeking "free ride[s] to fast riches." ("No Loss, No Gain," Legal Times, Jan. 31, 2005)
7. In a 2005 opinion-editorial, Gorsuch condemned "American liberals" for an "overweening addiction" to constitutional litigation. While he concluded that liberals should "kick" that litigation addiction and try to "win elections rather than lawsuits," he directed criticism only at "the Left," not the Right and conservative legal advocacy groups. (Neil Gorsuch, "Liberals 'N' Lawsuits," National Review Online, Feb. 7, 2005)
the rest:
7 Things You Need to Know About Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch
He reminds me in some ways of Roberts.
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