Noel Canning Decision Invalidates Many Critical NLRB Decisions

On June 26, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion in National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") v. Noel Canning. The 9-0 decision affirmed the holding of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that the appointment of Board members Sharon Block, Richard Griffin and Terence Flynn was unconstitutional. The Court did hold that the Constitution's Recess Appointments Clause gives the President the right to appoint individuals to vacant seats on the Board during both intra- and inter-session recesses of the Senate, regardless if those vacancies arose during the recess or prior to the recess. However, in this case, the Court determined that the Senate was not in recess when the appointments were made, which rendered them invalid.