GOVERNANCE: Court orders NLRB to justify continuing operation in wake of recess appointee ruling.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia today ordered the National Labor Relations Board to respond to a petition by a pro-business group that it suspend any further action in a Rhode Island case. The same court had earlier ruled that two of the three current board members were appointed unconstitutionally. Should the court grant the petition, it could force the NLRB to cease all activity.

“We are not asking the court to shut down the Board, but it may have that effect. If the court shuts down the NLRB in this case, why not another other case? This will open the door for challenges in the other cases that have the potential to be invalidated by the court’s decision last month,” said Anthony Riedel, spokesman for the National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation, which filed the petition.

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