(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to wade into claims being made by a growing number of businesses that the National Labor Relations Board’s in-house enforcement proceedings are unconstitutional.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied an emergency application by auto parts maker Yapp USA Automotive Systems to block an NLRB case against it pending the outcome of its lawsuit claiming board officials are improperly shielded from at-will removal by the president.
Yapp in the underlying board case is accused of illegally interfering with a union election at a Michigan factory, which it has denied.
Kavanaugh, who oversees requests arising from Michigan and other states covered by the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, did not explain his decision.
Lawyers for Yapp and an NLRB spokeswoman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A federal judge in Michigan last month refused to block the NLRB case against Yapp from proceeding, ruling that the company was unlikely to prevail on its claims that the board’s administrative judges and its five members are illegally insulated from being removed without cause.
Yapp says that because those officials wield executive power, the U.S. Constitution requires that they be held accountable to the president.
The company is appealing to the 6th Circuit, which on Sunday denied its motion to stay the administrative case pending the appeal.
Nearly 20 other companies including Amazon.com, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and pipeline operator Energy Transfer have filed similar lawsuits attacking the NLRB’s structure and enforcement powers. Three judges in Texas have temporarily blocked board cases from moving forward, while at least four judges in other states have refused to do so.
At a panel discussion on Tuesday hosted by the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo said the legal challenges by Yapp and other companies were an attempt to distract from their violations of federal labor law. But she said the board would not waver in protecting workers’ rights.
“Everybody in this country needs us,” said Abruzzo, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden. “It would be chaos if the agency was not allowed to perform its functions and do it properly.”
The case is Yapp USA Automotive Systems v. NLRB, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 24A348.
For Yapp: Timothy Garrett of Bass, Berry & Sims; Matthew Nelson of Warner Norcross + Judd
For the NLRB: Michael Dale
Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York
