From the Wall Street Journal:
President Obama’s second term could really be something. In the latest disdain for the Constitution’s checks and balances, the National Labor Relations Board has declared that it doesn’t like the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Friday ruling that three board members were illegally appointed so it plans to ignore it.
“The Board respectfully disagrees with today’s decision and believes that the President’s position in the matter will ultimately be upheld,” Chairman Mark Pearce said in a statement. “It should be noted that this order applies to only one specific case, Noel Canning, and that similar questions have been raised in more than a dozen cases pending in other courts of appeals.
“In the meantime, the Board has important work to do. The parties who come to us seek and expect careful consideration and resolution of their cases, and for that reason, we will continue to perform our statutory duties and issue decisions.”
To recap… first, President Obama unilaterally declares the Senate is in “recess” while the Senate was holding pro-forma session specifically to prevent him from making recess appointments and appoints three people to the National Labor Relations Board. Then when a federal appeals court rules the recess appointments were illegal, the NLRB thumbs its collective nose at the ruling and declares that it will keep doing business as if nothing happened.
In a sane world the President’s three illegal appointees to the NLRB would resign and Mr. Obama would work with the Senate, in its advice and consent capacity, to legally reconstitute the National Labor Relations Board. Instead this administration continues to thumb its nose at the Constitution and the rule of law.