What happened
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday ruled that the National Labor Relations Board's structure is likely unconstitutional and barred the federal agency from pursuing cases against SpaceX and two other plaintiffs.
The ruling has broad "regional implications" for labor rights enforcement in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, the three states in the 5th Circuit, Bloomberg said.
Who said what
The ruling, from a three-judge panel that includes two appointees of President Donald Trump, was the "first by an appeals court" to find that the law shielding NLRB members and judges from "being removed at will by the president is likely illegal," Reuters said. Companies "should not have to choose between compliance and constitutionality," Judge Don Willett wrote for the court. "When an agency's structure violates the separation of powers, the harm is immediate — and the remedy must be, too."
Congress designed the NLRB "to be independent from the White House," Reuters said, and "no board member had ever been removed by the president" until Trump fired Democratic member Gwynne Wilcox in January, leaving the board "paralyzed and unable to issue decisions." The Trump administration is also challenging the board's structure in Wilcox's lawsuit to get her job back.
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What next?
The NLRB is "undoubtedly likely to challenge" Tuesday's ruling, said TechCrunch. But the "win" for Trump's "uniquely expansive view of presidential power" gives the Supreme Court "yet another opportunity to bend to that vision of the presidency," said Above the Law.
