U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

by Jeremy Leaming

Once again a right-wing controlled federal appeals court has dealt a blow to workers’ rights. The Koch brothers and their staunch defenders of an unwieldy corporate America have yet another court action to celebrate.  

In National Association of Manufacturers v. National Labor Relations Board, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia invalidated a rule issued by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) requiring employers to post notices containing information about rights pursuant to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). For instance a flyer, poster or notice could inform workers of their rights to create a union, engage in collective bargaining, advocate for safe working conditions, or wage a strike. The NLRB rule also stated that companies failing to post such notices were engaging in unfair labor practices.

The three-judge panel, all consisting of Republican-appointed judges, invalidated the NLRB rule, saying it went beyond the Board’s authority, the Los Angeles Times reports. The D.C. Circuit also complained the NLRB rule amounted to government-controlled speech, saying employers covered by the NLRA cannot be forced in all circumstances to post or disseminate workers’ rights spelled out under the law. The D.C. Circuit called this “compelled speech” and said the employers “see the poster as one-sided, as favoring unionization, because it ‘fails to notify employees, …, of their rights to decertify a union, to refuse to pay dues to a union in a right-to-work state, and to object to payment of dues in the excess of the amounts required for representational purposes.’”

The D.C. Circuit is often considered the second most important court in the country because it hears an array of weighty constitutional matters, including the creation of federal regulations, like those aimed at enforcing the NLRA. The eleven-member court has four vacancies and Senate Republicans have blocked President Obama’s attempts to fill the vacancies. Earlier this year, the Senate, led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-K.Y.), again blocked the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to a seat on the bench. She has subsequently withdrawn her nomination.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has conducted a hearing on another Obama nominee to the D.C. Circuit, Sri Srinivasan. But during that hearing, Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced legislation to cut the number of judges serving on that bench to 8. If Grassley has his way, Obama will be fortunate to get one judge placed on the D.C. Circuit.

by Jeremy Leaming

Sri Srinivasan, President Obama’s second nominee to a vacant seat the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, sailed through yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing largely because he did a masterful job of detailing his career, which offers few hints of an ideological leaning.

Yesterday, Adam Serwer, for Mother Jones, noted that very little is known about Srinivasan, other than he could be, if placed on the D.C. Circuit, a potential pick for the U.S. Supreme Court. If Srinivasan is confirmed, he will be the first South Asian American to serve on the D.C. Circuit. Serwer also touched upon aspects of Srinivasan’s legal career that might trouble progressives who believe the federal bench is in need of more progressive judges, instead of ones who cater to corporate interests.

Srinivasan said very little, if anything, to provide Republicans any cause to further delay his route to the D.C. Circuit. (Srinivasan’s hearing before the Committee came more than 300 days after the president nominated him.) He promised a fealty to precedent. And Republicans, such as U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who helped scuttle Caitlin Halligan’s nomination to the D.C. Circuit, announced he would support the nomination.

Republicans like Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), however, are bent on rebranding the D.C. Circuit as a court with too many judges and a light caseload. At the start of the hearing Grassley, the Committee’s Ranking Member, announced the introduction of bill to cut the number of active judges on the D.C. Circuit to 8 from 11. Grassley’s bill, co-sponsored by Republican senators Hatch, Jeff Sessions (Ala.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), John Cornyn (Texas), Mike Lee (Utah), Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Ted Cruz (Texas), claims, “It is no secret that the D.C. Circuit is the least-busy, least-worked appellate court in the nation.”

It appears Senate Republicans are preparing to give Obama one chance to put a judge on the D.C. Circuit and no more, leaving the D.C. Circuit likely tilting rightward, though at the moment it’s impossible to know exactly what if any ideology Srinivasan carries. Moreover, a confirmation is certainly not assured in this climate.