Senate To Vote On Controversial NLRB GC Nominee Today

The Senate is expected to vote on the nomination of Richard Griffin to serve as general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board today. The GC plays a major role in deciding which disputes are taken up by the board. Many believe Democrats will find enough votes to approve Griffin’s nomination, though Republicans have pushed back, with some arguing that Griffin’s previous work as GC for the International Union of Operating Engineers makes him too biased to serve.

“If the NLRB is to maintain even the appearance of competence and adjudicatory neutrality, a person so patently committed to one side cannot be placed in a position that requires judgment and temperance,” a group of five House Republicans wrote in an Oct. 24 letter to Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), urging the lawmakers to oppose Griffin’s nomination.

The Griffin nomination has long been the subject of Republican ire. He was first nominated for a Board appointment in 2012, with President Obama maintaining that with the Senate then in a sham pro-forma session, the Constitution gave him authority to appoint Griffin and two other NLRB members unilaterally. But the D.C. Court of Appeals found the nominations invalid, and the case is now going before the Supreme Court. Griffin remained on the board until this summer, when partisan nomination battles peaked with Senate Democrats threatening to change the filibuster rules. The deal resolving the situation specified that Griffin and Sharon Block, another recess appointee, be withdrawn from consideration for the Board appointment. If approved as general counsel, Griffin would replace acting GC Lafe Solomon and serve for four years.