Supreme Court Nominee Amy Coney Barrett Is an Enemy of Workers
In August, Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett delivered a key ruling blocking many gig workers from suing in court when tech companies deny them overtime pay. It's just one in a long history of decisions that favored corporate interests.

Seventh US Circuit Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett speaks after Donald Trump announced that she will be his nominee to the Supreme Court, at the White House on September 26, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
Just weeks before President Donald Trump reportedly selected her to fill the new Supreme Court vacancy, Judge Amy Coney Barrett delivered a ruling that could help corporations evade long-standing laws requiring them to provide overtime pay to their workers.
That ruling was one of a number of cases in which Barrett helped corporate interests prevail over workers. Her highest-profile business-focused actions on the federal bench have limited the enforcement of age-discrimination laws, restricted federal agencies’ power to punish companies that mislead consumers, and reduced consumers’ rights against predatory debt collectors, according to a recent report from the Alliance for Justice.
Barrett’s August ruling in the overtime case is particularly significant: it comes as technology companies have been trying to use mandatory arbitration clauses to avoid better remunerating so-called gig workers. Those provisions often force worker disputes to be decided by private arbitrators handpicked by the companies, rather than in an impartial court of law.