Lawyers for Amazon and Elon Musk’s SpaceX argued in a federal appeals court on Monday that the structure of the National Labor Relations Board is unconstitutional, setting off a legal battle that could extend into the Trump administration where Musk’s bureaucratic Expect to monitor cost cutting.
A three-judge panel at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard separate oral arguments in the cases of SpaceX and Amazon, both companies in disputes over workers’ rights and union organizing on behalf of the labor agency. Started after filing complaints against them.
A ruling in favor of the companies could severely curtail – or paralyze – the nearly century-old agency tasked with enforcing labor laws and resolving labor-related complaints filed by workers against their employers. do The case could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority and has issued rulings curbing the power of government agencies.
Three appeals judges hearing Monday’s arguments questioned the legal maneuvering by Amazon and SpaceX to get their cases to the 5th Circuit, where jurists appointed by Republican presidents dominate the appeals court.
Counsel for the NLRB emphasized during the hearing that the two companies filed their appeals after the lower courts did not rule by the filing deadline.
SpaceX attorney Michael E. Kenneally responded that the government is “relying too heavily on procedural objections” because of the alleged weakness of its legal argument, a claim that received some pushback from the panel.
“It sounds to me like the argument that ‘if I win on the merits, the procedure doesn’t matter,'” said Judge James E. Graves Jr., an appointee of former President Barack Obama.
SpaceX, Musk’s space technology company, filed its lawsuit against the NLRB in January after the labor agency accused the company of illegally firing employees who wrote an open letter against Musk and created the impression that What was the activity of the worker being monitored?
Among other claims, the company argued in its complaint that the agency’s action deprived it of its right to a trial by jury.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has become more influential in recent months after raising an estimated $200 million through his political action committee to help elect Donald Trump president.
After he was elected, Trump tapped Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new efficiency commission focused on cutting federal government spending. Musk has said the new administration will have a mandate to “remove the mountain of suffocating regulations that are not maximally beneficial.”
Amazon’s lawsuit against the NLRB is linked to the company’s objections to a union election in April 2022 at a New York City warehouse. The retail company has accused the agency of improperly interfering in the election, in part by suing the company to reinstate a fired organizer near the start of voting.
The Amazon labor union eventually won the election to represent the workers, but Amazon refused to come to the negotiating table.
The company’s lawyers argued in the lawsuit that the NLRB board members who took up the agency’s complaint later “acted as judges” by refusing to review Amazon’s objections, which also came before them. Amazon’s lawyers said the agency’s structure was unconstitutional because it shields board members from removal by the US president, among other things.
In a statement released ahead of Monday’s hearing, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo said that “it is nothing new for challenges to the NLRB’s authority to enforce workers’ rights to be held accountable for violations.” Not to be held”.
