Fifth Circuit Says NLRB Structure Likely Illegal, Halts Case Against SpaceX

The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that statutory protections shielding National Labor Relations Board members and administrative law judges from at-will removal by the president are likely unconstitutional. The 2-1 decision, written by Judge Don Willett, blocks the NLRB from pursuing unfair-labor-practice complaints against SpaceX, pipeline operator Energy Transfer and social-services search engine Aunt Bertha while the companies press their constitutional challenge. The panel said the current structure prevents the president from exercising proper control over the executive branch, and that forcing the employers to defend themselves before a potentially unlawful tribunal would cause irreparable harm. The order leaves the labor board unable to advance the underlying cases—part of a growing list of suits attacking the agency’s authority since it was left short-handed after President Donald Trump fired Democratic member Gwynne Wilcox in January. In a separate action the same day, a federal judge in Maryland certified a class of U.S.-based USAID employees who claim that efforts by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to dismantle the agency violate the Constitution’s Appointments Clause and separation-of-powers safeguards. Judge Theodore D. Chuang said as many as 10,000 workers facing layoffs may pursue injunctive and declaratory relief as a group, while excluding foreign nationals employed abroad from the class.