Detroit trucker: Surreal to be part of court debate
Detroit During Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuchs Senate confirmation hearings, one case came up repeatedly: A truck driver was fired for leaving his trailer of meat on the side of an Illinois road after breaking down on a frigid night in 2009, fearing hed freeze to death.
The federal appeals court judge last year dissented from a ruling ordering a trucking company to rehire Alphonse Maddin. Gorsuch argued he had to determine whether the trucking companys decision to fire Maddin was legal, not wise or kind.
In Detroit, where Maddin lives and 400 miles away from that Capitol Hill hearing room, he finds it surreal his personal story has been the focus of national debate and is now part of the discussion on whether someone ascends to the nations highest court.
Assured of support from majority Republicans, Gorsuch appears primed to join the bench. But Maddin, 48, is using his unexpected platform to render an opinion on a jurist he believes put ideology above human interest in his case.
Read more: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/22/gorsuch-trucker/99519750/