The U.S. Supreme Court Justices seemed to be skeptical of the Obama administration’s position during Jan. 13 oral arguments in a case centering on the president’s ability to make recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, courts, and other government offices.
The case, NLRB v. Noel Canning, is significant for construction because it involves two appointments to the NLRB, the body that adjudicates labor cases important to construction firms and unions, that were invalidated as unconstitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in January 2013. The court said the appointments were invalid because the Senate was technically not in recess when the appointments were made. Hundreds of cases decided while two appointees in question—Sharon Block and Richard Griffin—were serving on the board might have to be re-heard if the court were to uphold the appeals court ruling.