New Process Steel, L. P. v. National Labor Relations Board (560 U.S. 674)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 17, 2010 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 560 U.S. 674 · 130 S. Ct. 2635
- Decided
- June 17, 2010
- Term
- October Term 2009
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. The Taft-Hartley Act, enacted in 1947, increased the size of the National Labor Relations Board (Board) from three members to five. See 29 U. S. C. § 153(a). Concurrent with that change, the Taft-Hartley Act amended § 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to increase the quorum requirement for the Board from two members to three, and to allow the Board to delegate its authority to groups of at least three members. See § 153(b). The question in this case is whether, following a delegation of the Board’s powers to a three-member group, two members may continue to exercise that delegated authority once the group’s (and the. Board’s) membership falls to two. We hold that two remaining Board members cannot exercise such authority. I As 2007 came to a close, the Board found itself with four members and one vacancy. It anticipated two more vacancies at the end of the year, when the recess appointments of Members Kirsanow and Walsh were set to expire, which would leave the Board with only two members — too few to meet the Board’s quorum requirement, § 153(b). The four sitting members decided to take action in an effort to preserve the Board’s authority to function. On December 20, 2007, the Board made two delegations of its authority, effective as of midnight December 28,2007. First, the Board delegated to the general…
Excerpt of a 26,461-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.