Contact: Jeff Leieritz (202) 905-2104              [email protected]

For Immediate Release June 26, 2014

Washington, D.C. – Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision in National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning that President Obama unconstitutionally bypassed the U. S. Senate by appointing Sharon Block, Richard Griffin and Terrence Flynn to fill National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) vacancies.

“By upholding the U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision, the Supreme Court has reaffirmed the Senate’s role in the executive appointment process,” said ABC Vice President of Government Affairs Geoff Burr. “Today’s ruling overturning President Obama’s illegal recess appointments to the NLRB is a victory for ABC, the Constitution and our system of checks and balances, and it serves as a clear rejection of the president’s unprecedented expansion of executive authority.”

The original case was brought by Noel Canning, a Washington state bottling company, which challenged an NLRB decision that it must enter into a collective bargaining agreement with a labor union. The ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace intervened in the case and, last January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the president violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate to fill NLRB vacancies.

In addition to reaffirming the legislative branch’s role in the presidential appointee confirmation process, today’s Supreme Court ruling jeopardizes the legal status of more than 1,000 Board actions over the past two years. 

###

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national construction industry trade association representing nearly 21,000 chapter members. Founded on the merit shop philosophy, ABC and its 70 chapters help members develop people, win work and deliver that work safely, ethically, profitably and for the betterment of the communities in which ABC and its members work. Visit us at www.abc.org.