Alexander on Supreme Court Ruling Obama Recess Appointments Unconstitutional

Washington, D.C., June 26 –U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the committee overseeing labor policy, released the following statement on today’s ruling by the Supreme Court, which held that the president’s January 2012 appointments to the National Labor Relations Board are unconstitutional:

“The unanimous Supreme Court decision today is a powerful rebuke to the Obama administration and a reminder to others that the Constitution gives the Senate powers the executive branch cannot usurp. Our founders wanted a President, not a king, and our Constitution is written to protect against precisely the kind of overreach this president demonstrated with his so-called recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board.”

In September of 2012, Alexander joined 41 Republican senators in filing an amicus brief in the Noel Canning case against the President’s pro-forma session appointments to the National Labor Relations Board.

On February 13 2013, Alexander called on the president’s appointees, Sharon Block and Richard Griffin, to “leave the board,” after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in January ruled their appointments to the NLRB by President Obama during a so-called “recess” session of the United States Senate were unconstitutional. 

In March 2013, with 17 cosponsors, he introduced a budget amendment to defund decisions and regulations made by the unconstitutional NLRB “quorum.”

In April 2013, Alexander introduced legislation, the Preventing Greater Uncertainty in Labor-Management Relations Act, that would prohibit the National Labor Relations Board from taking any action that requires a quorum until the board members constituting the quorum have been confirmed by the Senate, the Supreme Court issues a decision on the constitutionality of the appointments to the board made in January 2012, or the first session of the 113th Congress is adjourned. 

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For access to this release and Ranking Member Alexander’s other statements, click here.