Court rules in favor of SpaceX’s lawsuit against the NLRB’s legal status
Now standing on feet of clay.
The Fifth Circuit of the US. Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) unfair labor practice cases against SpaceX and two other companies should remain suspended until the legal challenges by those companies to the NLRB’s legal authority is settled.
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said Tuesday that being subjected to an unconstitutional administrative proceeding was an irreparable harm that justified preliminary injunctions halting NLRB cases. “The Employers have made their case and should not have to choose between compliance and constitutionality,” Judge Don Willett, a Trump appointee, wrote for the court. “When an agency’s structure violates the separation of powers, the harm is immediate—and the remedy must be, too.”
You can read the court decision here [pdf].
The NLRB had sued SpaceX, claiming it had violated the labor rights of several former employees because it fired them for criticizing Musk publicly. SpaceX responded by suing the NLRB itself, claiming the law which founded it and allowed it to act as prosecutor, judge, and jury in all cases while also limiting the President’s ability to fire its officials was unconstitutional. Other companies, including Amazon, soon filed similar suits against the NLRB.
Since then the courts have ruled several times that the companies’ lawsuits have merit, and that the NLRB’s cases against these companies should be suspended as the suits are litigated. The NLRB repeatedly appealed those decisions, requesting that its prosecution of the companies be allowed to continue. This new decision once again rules against the NLRB.
The language of the decision also suggests the entire legal standing of the NLRB will be thrown out as the lawsuit moves upward to the Supreme Court. Page after page of the decision makes clear the court — based on numerous previous Supreme Court rulings — agrees with SpaceX’s position that the NLRB cannot be insulated from presidential oversight, nor is it legal for it to act as prosecutor, judge, and jury in its unfair labor practice cases.
Expect this entire anti-business bureaucracy to be ruled illegal, as presently structured.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Now standing on feet of clay.
The Fifth Circuit of the US. Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) unfair labor practice cases against SpaceX and two other companies should remain suspended until the legal challenges by those companies to the NLRB’s legal authority is settled.
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said Tuesday that being subjected to an unconstitutional administrative proceeding was an irreparable harm that justified preliminary injunctions halting NLRB cases. “The Employers have made their case and should not have to choose between compliance and constitutionality,” Judge Don Willett, a Trump appointee, wrote for the court. “When an agency’s structure violates the separation of powers, the harm is immediate—and the remedy must be, too.”
You can read the court decision here [pdf].
The NLRB had sued SpaceX, claiming it had violated the labor rights of several former employees because it fired them for criticizing Musk publicly. SpaceX responded by suing the NLRB itself, claiming the law which founded it and allowed it to act as prosecutor, judge, and jury in all cases while also limiting the President’s ability to fire its officials was unconstitutional. Other companies, including Amazon, soon filed similar suits against the NLRB.
Since then the courts have ruled several times that the companies’ lawsuits have merit, and that the NLRB’s cases against these companies should be suspended as the suits are litigated. The NLRB repeatedly appealed those decisions, requesting that its prosecution of the companies be allowed to continue. This new decision once again rules against the NLRB.
The language of the decision also suggests the entire legal standing of the NLRB will be thrown out as the lawsuit moves upward to the Supreme Court. Page after page of the decision makes clear the court — based on numerous previous Supreme Court rulings — agrees with SpaceX’s position that the NLRB cannot be insulated from presidential oversight, nor is it legal for it to act as prosecutor, judge, and jury in its unfair labor practice cases.
Expect this entire anti-business bureaucracy to be ruled illegal, as presently structured.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
I’ve been a big fan of Judge Willet for a long time. I wish that Trump had elevated him to SCOTUS instead of Amy ConeyDog Barrett, the biggest (if not most unsurprising) disappointment of the Trump-appointed justices.