Catherwood LibraryILR School

The Supreme Court will hear a case today that is as much about the president?s appointment power to the NLRB as it is about the future of the NLRB itself. The case revolves on Noel Canning, a Pepsi bottler, who reneged a verbal contract with its union and has since pressed the issue through the courts partly on procedural grounds. With the help of the national Chamber of Commerce, the company is claiming that President Obama?s January 2012 ?recess appointments? to the NLRB were unconstitutional and therefore their decision should be thrown out. There have been large ideological shifts in what the NLRB has been willing to do, such as seek injunctions against employers carrying out unfair labor practices, with each passing president, and as such the court may be deciding how future Boards are staffed and how quickly the board will be able to carry out its mission when new Board members are needed.