NLRB overreach: Recess challenge edition

Soon to be a right to work state?

The uproar of President Obama's so-called recess appointments continues.

And will Indiana become a right to work state?

Scroll down to the related post to see what Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC) says about the NLRB.

From Investors Business Daily:

At least two business groups filed legal challenges Friday to the White House's move last week to use recess appointees to put three people on the National Labor Relations Board. The groups argued that the action was unconstitutional because Congress was never technically in recess.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Fund and the National Federation of Independent Business filed separate challenges against the White House's appointment of Sharon Block, Terence Flynn and Richard Griffin to the NLRB.

Challenges like this from the business community were widely expected. The White House's action was unprecedented and involved serious balance of power issues between the executive branch and Congress.

The appointments are also politically charged as the feed into a narrative the White House is pushing ahead of the 2012 election. Namely, that President Obama is standing up for working Americans against big business. Republicans and business groups counter that the White House is simply paying back its Big Labor allies.

OneNewsNow:

A lot of news coverage on President Barack Obama's three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board has involved the issue of such appointments. But just who exactly are the people appointed?

James Sherk, senior policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, says Democrats Richard Griffin and Sharon Block are very pro-union. Griffin is an attorney for the Operating Engineers; Sharon Block worked for the Department of Labor and previously for members of Congress. Adding that up, Sherk decides the appointments are "very disturbing."

"The National Labor Relations Board is supposed to be an impartial agency. It's supposed to be a neutral arbitrator weighing in between businesses and unions to protect employees' rights," the policy analyst notes. "What the president has done is appointed senior union officials, so it's no longer an impartial agency."

Sherk says the framers of the Constitution required the president to get consent from the Senate before making senior appointments for this reason. But as Nathan Mehrens of Americans for Limited Government points out, the Senate had little time to do anything in the way of vetting.

WFPL:

The Indiana General Assembly resumes Tuesday, with House lawmakers taking up a contentious labor bill.

The Republican-led measure would prohibit unions at private companies from collecting mandatory union representation fees.

The so-called “right-to-work” issue has prompted union demonstrations at the Statehouse and several days of boycotts by House Democrats.

NPR: Industrial Midwest states challenge union power

Foundry: Whitewash on illegal appointments won't work

Big Government: Shock: DOJ upholds Obama's "recess" appointments

Washington Examiner:

Whether Obama has powers to decide what functions the Senate can perform when it's in session is for the Senate and lawyers to decide. But one issue is clear -- the Senate cannot confirm candidates if the committee does not have the paperwork.

Two NLRB appointees, Democrats Sharon Block and Richard Griffin, were nominated on Dec. 15, 2011, the day before Congress adjourned. Their financial and ethics forms did not accompany the nomination, and even today have not yet reached the committee in charge of confirming them, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Related post:

Rep. Tim Scott on Southern Sense BTR show: NLRB no "longer an impartial, unbiased referee--they have chosen sides"

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