Page:Mallory v. Norfolk Southern.pdf/20

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Cite as: 600 U. S. ____ (2023)
17

Opinion of Gorsuch, J.

(quoting Shaffer, 433 U. S., at 212, n. 39); post, at 15 (opinion of Barrett, J.). True as that statement may be, however, it only poses the question whether Pennsylvania Fire is “inconsistent with” International Shoe. And, as we have seen, it is not. Instead, the latter decision expanded upon the traditional grounds of personal jurisdiction recognized by the former. This Court has previously cautioned litigants and lower courts against (mis)reading Shaffer as suggesting that International Shoe discarded every traditional method for securing personal jurisdiction that came before. See Burnham, 495 U. S., at 620–622 (plurality opinion); cf. Daimler, 571 U. S., at 126, 132–133. We find ourselves repeating the admonition today.[1]

Next, Norfolk Southern appeals to the spirit of our age. After International Shoe, it says, the “primary concern” of the personal jurisdiction analysis is “[t]reating defendants fairly.” Brief for Respondent 19 (internal quotation marks omitted). And on the company’s telling, it would be “unfair” to allow Mr. Mallory’s suit to proceed in Pennsylvania because doing so would risk unleashing “ ‘local prejudice’ ” against a company that is “not ‘local’ in the eyes of the community.” Id., at 19–21.

But if fairness is what Norfolk Southern seeks, pause for a moment to measure this suit against that standard. When Mr. Mallory brought his claim in 2017, Norfolk Southern had registered to do business in Pennsylvania for


  1. Taking up the Shaffer baton from the company, the dissent insists that International Shoe “ ‘cast … aside’ ” consent statutes in favor of a minimum contacts analysis. Post, at 13–14. But, as we have seen, nothing in International Shoe purported to address, let alone condemn, consent statutes. Even the dissent ultimately acknowledges, as it must, that “ ‘a variety of legal arrangements’ ” can signal consent to jurisdiction after International Shoe, and these arrangements can include state laws requiring consent to suit in exchange “for access to [a State’s] markets.” Post, at 4, 6; see also Neirbo Co., 308 U. S., at 175 (calling this form of consent “real consent” (emphasis added)).