Musk's SpaceX, others win US court challenge to labor board's structure
The ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the first by an appeals court to find that a law shielding NLRB administrative judges and the board's five members from being removed at will by the president is likely illegal.
The 5th Circuit on Tuesday said the protections from removal prevent the president from exercising his power to control the executive branch.
"Because the executive power remains solely vested in the President, those who exercise it on his behalf must remain subject to his oversight," wrote Circuit Judge Don Willett, an appointee of Republican President Donald Trump.
A series of similar cases challenging the board's structure are pending, and the Trump administration is making the same arguments after the president fired a Democratic member of the board in January and she sued to get her job back.
The 5th Circuit upheld decisions by three judges in Texas that blocked NLRB cases alleging illegal labor practices by SpaceX, pipeline operator Energy Transfer, and Aunt Bertha, which operates a social services search engine, pending the outcome of their lawsuits.
"The Employers have made their case and should not have to choose between compliance and constitutionality," wrote Willett.
The board and the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Musk was a top adviser to Trump, spearheading an effort to drastically shrink the federal workforce and slash government spending, until the two men had a public falling out in May. SpaceX has a separate pending lawsuit against the NLRB seeking to block a different board case.
The NLRB is the only federal agency that hears private-sector labor disputes. The agency's general counsel can issue complaints against employers or unions that are heard by administrative judges, whose decisions can be appealed to the board.
The five-member board has been paralyzed and unable to issue decisions since Trump in January fired Member Gwynne Wilcox. The NLRB was designed by the U.S. Congress to be independent from the White House, and before Wilcox no board member had ever been removed by the president.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
43 minutes ago
- CNA
Trump eyes US government stakes in other chip makers that received CHIPS Act funds, sources say
WASHINGTON :U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that receive CHIPS Act funding to build factories in the country, two sources said. Expanding on a plan to receive an equity stake in Intel in exchange for cash grants, a White House official and a person familiar with the situation said Lutnick is exploring how the U.S. can receive equity stakes in exchange for CHIPS Act funding for companies such as Micron, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Samsung. Much of the funding has not yet been dispersed. Aside from Intel, memory chipmaker Micron is the biggest U.S. recipient of CHIPS Act cash. TSMC declined comment. Micron, Samsung and the White House did not respond to requests for comment. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Tuesday that Lutnick was working on a deal with Intel to take a 10 per cent government stake. "The president wants to put America's needs first, both from a national security and economic perspective, and it's a creative idea that has never been done before," she told reporters. While Lutnick said earlier on CNBC that the U.S. does not want to tell Intel how to run its operations, any investment would be unprecedented and ramps up a new era of U.S. influence on the big companies. In the past, the U.S. has taken stakes in companies to provide cash and build confidence in times of economic upheaval and uncertainty. In a similar move earlier this year, Trump approved Nippon Steel's purchase of U.S. Steel after being promised a "golden share" that would prevent the companies from reducing or delaying promised investments, transferring production or jobs outside the U.S., or closing or idling plants before certain time frames, without the president's consent. The two sources said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is also involved in the CHIPS Act discussions, but that Lutnick is driving the process. The Commerce Department oversees the $52.7 billion CHIPS Act, formally known as the CHIPS and Science Act. The act provides funding for research and grants for building chip plants in the U.S. Lutnick has been pushing the equity idea, the sources said, adding that Trump likes the idea. The U.S. Commerce Department late last year finalized subsidies of $4.75 billion for Samsung, $6.2 billion for Micron and $6.6 billion for TSMC to produce semiconductors in the U.S. In June, Lutnick said the department was re-negotiating some of former President Joe Biden's grants to semiconductor firms, calling them "overly generous". He noted at the time that Micron offered to increase its spending on chip plants in the U.S.
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
Exclusive-White House launches official TikTok account
WASHINGTON :The White House launched an official TikTok account on Tuesday, taking advantage of its more than 150 million U.S. users to spread the messages of President Donald Trump. Trump has a soft spot for the popular app, crediting it with helping him gain support among young voters when he defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in the November 2024 presidential election. Past intelligence assessments have said the short video app's owners are beholden to the Chinese government and that it could be used to influence Americans. 'The Trump administration is committed to communicating the historic successes President Trump has delivered to the American people with as many audiences and platforms as possible," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said as the site went live. "President Trump's message dominated TikTok during his presidential campaign, and we're excited to build upon those successes and communicate in a way no other administration has before,' she said. The account, @whitehouse, began operation on Tuesday evening, with the aim of communicating the president's policies, a White House official said.
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
Vantage Data Centers plans $25 billion AI campus in Texas
Vantage Data Centers said on Tuesday it would spend more than $25 billion to build a 1,200-acre data center campus in Shackelford County, Texas, as surging demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure fuels mega-scale developments. Backed by private equity firm Silver Lake and asset manager DigitalBridge, Vantage said the 1.4-gigawatt campus, dubbed "Frontier", is the largest in its global portfolio. Chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini need massive compute, prompting demand for purpose-built data centers. These facilities are costly as they require cutting-edge chips, servers, adequate power and cooling solutions. Companies including Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta Platforms are committing billions of dollars to expand and create their data center facilities. Vantage says the construction of the campus has begun, which will be home to 10 data centers and support ultra-high-density racks exceeding 250 kilowatts each. The first building is due in the second half of next year. Silver Lake was a founding investor in Vantage in 2010. Vantage CEO Sureel Choksi joined the company from Silver Lake in 2013. After exiting Vantage in 2017, Silver Lake said it was invited back on a proprietary basis in 2023 to support capital raising and co-lead a $9.2 billion equity financing with DigitalBridge in 2024.
