Opinion of Gorsuch, J.
Norfolk Southern Corp., State Fact Sheets–Pennsylvania (2018), https://nscorp.com/content/dam/nscorp/get-to-know-ns/about-ns/state-fact-sheets/pa-state-fact-sheet.pdf.
All told, when Mr. Mallory sued, Norfolk Southern employed nearly 5,000 people in Pennsylvania. It maintained more than 2,400 miles of track across the Commonwealth. Its 70-acre locomotive shop there was the largest in North America. Contrary to what it says in its brief here, the company even proclaimed itself a proud part of “the Pennsylvania Community.” Ibid. By 2020, too, Norfolk Southern managed more miles of track in Pennsylvania than in any other State. Brief for Public Citizen as Amicus Curiae 21. And it employed more people in Pennsylvania than it did in Virginia, where its headquarters was located. Ibid. Nor are we conjuring these statistics out of thin air. The company itself highlighted its “intrastate activities” in the proceedings below. 266 A. 3d, at 560, 563 (discussing the firm’s “extensive operations in Pennsylvania,” including “2,278 miles of track,” “eleven rail yards,” and “three locomotive repair shops”). Given all this, on what plausible account could International Shoe’s concerns with “fair play and substantial justice” require a Pennsylvania court to turn aside Mr. Mallory’s suit? See post, at 4–5 (opinion of Alito, J.).[1]
- ↑ The dissent does not dispute the company’s extensive in-state contacts but replies that counsel for Mr. Mallory abandoned any reliance on them at oral argument. Post, at 17–18, and n. 9. In support of its claim, however, the dissent shears from context two sentences counsel uttered in response to a question about “why [Mr. Mallory] sue[d] in Philadelphia.” Tr. of Oral Arg. 48. In reply, counsel explained that Mr. Mallory “used to live … in Pennsylvania” and “his lawyers are from there.” Id., at 48–49. Counsel then agreed that “[t]hose contacts” would not establish jurisdiction and pointed this Court to Norfolk Southern’s “consent” to suit in Pennsylvania. Id., at 49 (emphasis added). All in all, it was a prosaic response to a simple question about why Mr. Mallory filed suit where he did. Nor, contrary to the dissent’s suggestion, are we alone in discussing the company’s in-state contacts; the lower court, the company, and the dissent all point to them too. See 266 A. 3d, at 547; Brief for Respondent 16–21; post, at 3–4.
