Press releases from the groups filing the legal challenge against Obama will be at the bottom of the post.
And it begins......
In the first legal challenge to President Barack Obama's recess appointments, three groups on Friday asked a judge to rule on whether the president's appointments to the National Labor Relations Board violate the U.S. Constitution.
The groups include the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the National Right to Work Foundation and the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace.....
These aren't the only groups either as media outlets recently reported that the American Center for Law and Justice was also discussing the option of taking the Obama administration to court on this very issue.The issue, simply put, was Barack Obama's unprecedented move of making recess appointments (which is legal) during a time when the Senate was in a pro-forma session (legality being challenged), which is specifically used to stop a president from making recess appointments.
Pro forma session - A brief meeting (sometimes only several seconds) of the Senate in which no business is conducted. It is held usually to satisfy the constitutional obligation that neither chamber can adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other. (Source)
Press release from National Federation of Independent Businesses- Source- NFIB Website.
www.NFIB.com
For Immediate Release
Contact: Cynthia Magnuson 202-314-2036 or Cynthia.Magnuson@NFIB.orgNFIB Challenges “Recess” Appointments to National Labor Relations Board
Adds New Claims to “Poster Rule” LawsuitWASHINGTON, D.C., January 13, 2012 — Amending its existing challenge to the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) “Notice Posting Rule,” the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) today added new claims, alleging that the Board appointments issued on January 4, 2012, violate the Constitution. The amended complaint argues that the Board does not possess the authority to enforce the poster rule, as the agency is operating without a legal quorum since the three appointments last week are not permissible under the law.
“The President’s action was a surprise and terrible disappointment to small-business owners throughout the country who have suffered under the unabashedly pro-union rule-makings handed down by the NLRB,” said Karen Harned, executive director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center. “These alleged recess appointments are a brazen circumvention of the Congressional appointment process and raise serious legal concerns that cannot be ignored. The outrage amongst members of the small-business community is severe, and NFIB takes this action today to ensure that its members are protected from unconstitutional acts that exacerbate the NLRB’s devolution from a neutral arbiter between labor and employers to a pro-union government agency.”
Facts about NFIB’s updated complaint challenging the “Notice Posting Rule”:
• Because Congress is not in recess, the President’s appointment of three members to the Board is invalid. With three positions unfilled, the Board no longer has the quorum necessary to conduct business.
• Absent a quorum, the Board is not authorized to implement or enforce the challenged Rule.
• NFIB’s lawsuit charges that the NLRB’s promulgation of the new rule is an overreach of its statutory authority under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
• The rule will impact all employers, including those with no history of NLRA violations.
• According to NLRB estimates, the rule will impact up to six million private-sector businesses around the country.
• The lawsuit asks the court to set aside the rule and declare that the NLRB’s action violates the NLRA.
• Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to accidental violations because the regulatory compliance burden most often falls on the small business owner and because small businesses do not have dedicated compliance staff.NFIB is the nation’s leading small-business advocacy organization, representing 350,000 small businesses around the country.
Press release from National Right to Work Foundation- Source- National Right To Work Website.
Worker Advocate Challenges Constitutionality of Obama's Controversial Labor Board Recess Appointments
Case over controversial NLRB posting becomes first legal challenge to Presidential attempt to make "recess appointments" without actual recess of the Senate
Washington, DC (January 13, 2012) – Today, National Right to Work Foundation attorneys filed a motion in federal court challenging the legality of President Barack Obama's recent purported recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
The legal challenge is part of a larger case attacking controversial new NLRB rules that require every employer to post incomplete information about employee rights online and in the workplace, even if they've never violated or been accused of breaking federal law. The NLRB's posting rules do not require union officials to issue information about workers' rights to refrain from union membership or opt out of union dues. Currently employers can only be required to post notices if the Board has ruled that a violation of labor law occurred.
The Foundation's case has been consolidated with other legal challenges to the biased NLRB notice posting rules brought by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW), and two small businesses. Those parties filed the joint motion today raising the issue of the NLRB's lack of authority to implement the rule given the unprecedented recess appointments.
The new filings in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia case comes after NLRB lawyers notified the court that President Obama's recent recess appointees were now parties in the ongoing legal battle. Under the U.S. Supreme Court's New Process Steel decision, the NLRB needs three members to act. However three of the five current NLRB members were installed by unilateral Presidential appointment earlier this year, despite the fact that the Senate was not in a self-declared recess.
In the motion papers, Foundation attorneys argue that the controversial appointees to the Board are not legitimate because the U.S. Senate is still in session per the body's rules, so there was no "recess" for the President to make appointments without Senate confirmation. Therefore the NLRB lacks the necessary quorum to implement the new posting rules. Foundation attorneys are asking the judge to rule on the constitutionality of the three recess appointees.
"President Barack Obama has already shown time and again that he is willing to abuse his executive authority to force more workers into union-dues-paying ranks," said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. "Now Obama's executive abuse jeopardizes the constitutional balance our country holds very dear, all in the name of paying back his Big Labor benefactors."
The implementation of the NLRB's new posting rules, originally supposed to be in August of last year, has been twice delayed due to the legal challenge in the Foundation's case. The rules are currently scheduled to be effective on April 30, 2012.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is also a party in the case, but is not party to the Foundation's motion.
Press release from Coalition for a Democratic Workplace- Source- CDW Website.
January 13, 2012*** For A Copy Of CDW’s Motion, Click Here ***
Employers File Suit To Block Three Wrongly Appointed Board Members
WASHINGTON, D.C. // JANUARY 13, 2012 // Today, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, which represents over 600 employers, associations and other organizations operating in every Congressional District, announced that it has joined with leading employer associations in filing a motion that will seek to block the unconstitutional recess appointments by President Barack Obama of three Members to the National Labor Relations Board.
The motion, available, at MyPrivateBallot.com, reads, in part, that “The Board has lost its quorum due to the expiration of Member Becker’s term and the President’s failure to appoint new Board members with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate.” In essence, the motion reflects the view that the three individuals recently installed by circumventing the nomination process are not to be recognized as Members.
CDW chairman Geoffrey Burr said, “The motion we filed today is a major step toward overturning the President’s ill-conceived and illegal efforts to ignore the Constitution. This act brazenly violates Constitutionally established separation of powers, all but ensuring that the rogue, anti-business agency continues uninterrupted in its pursuit of silencing the voices of employers in the workplace. Employers take matters before the NLRB seriously, but we take matters of core constitutional questions even more seriously and our action today is just the first step toward holding this administration accountable.”
(Changes made to headline and post)