Amazon.com and the NLRB: Why the Courts of Appeals have ruled that the Labor Relations Board is Constitutionally Unconstitutional

The lawsuits are among a number of challenges brought by companies who believe the NLRB has the authority to shape and enforce labor law.

The Seventh Amendment protects the right to a jury trial in certain civil cases. The due process argument says that the NLRB should not be allowed to decide financial remedies related to the case. Cox said the board itself had interfered with the union election, so it should not be allowed to continue.

George W. Bush-appointed Judge Priscilla Richman similarly pressed SpaceX’s counsel Michael Kenneally about why the company rushed to an appeal, rather than letting the case progress in a lower court. The government was accused of leaning on procedural arguments due to it inability to defend the NLRB’s constitutionality by Kenneally. Graves seemed to be skeptical. He said that the argument is that procedure doesn’t matter if I win on merits, so just skip right over procedure.

The National Labor Relations Board has taken an aggressive approach to protecting workers’ rights in the nearly four years that Joe Biden has been president.

Amazon.com is at the forefront of a corporate effort to change the labor agency. On Monday, attorneys for the companies will try to convince judges at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that the labor agency is unconstitutional.

A victory for the Biden administration and companies who have spent lots of money trying to keep unions out of work would be a major victory for the unions.

The companies also find fault with the president’s inability to fire NLRB board members, who serve five-year terms, and in SpaceX’s case, its administrative law judges.

At Amazon, the issue was the company’s refusal to collectively bargain with the Amazon Labor Union. Workers at Amazon’s Staten Island, N.Y., warehouse voted to unionize in 2022.

The Labor Attorney’s Judicial Action: How a “Standard Counsel” Can Save a U.S. Labor Agency

The lawsuits distract and point out the 90-year history of the labor agency’s governing labor-management relations, according to the General Counsel.

“We are trying to hold violators of our statute accountable,” she said at the National Press Club in October. It would be chaotic if the agency was not allowed to do its job.

For starters, Trump is expected to fire Abruzzo immediately, exercising power he does hold. On his first day in office, Biden fired Trump’s appointee.

All expectations are that a general counsel will not fight any ruling favorable to the companies in the Amazon and SpaceX cases. The lawsuits in other countries could result in conflicting court decisions.