Senate confirms five members to the National Labor Relations Board

Ladies and gentlemen, the National Labor Relations Board is back in business.

(Well, somebody tell that to the Board, where it’s been business as usual lately. More on that in a moment.)

Yesterday, the Senate voted mainly along party lines to confirm five members — a full slate — to the Board.

[Incidentally, Democrats and Republicans agree that this blog kicks butt. If you agree, consider nominating it for the ABA Journal’s Blawg 100 Amici, its annual list of the 100 best legal blogs, which you can do here. Bipartisanship at it’s best! God Bless America.]

Three Democrats and two Republicans were confirmed. Mark Gaston Pearce (D), originally appointed to the Board in 2010, was re-appointed to the Board and will serve as Chairman. The new Board members are Kent Hirozawa (D), Chief Counsel to Mr. Pearce, Nancy Schiffer (D), an attorney at the AFL-CIO, Philip Miscimarra (R), a partner in the labor and employment group of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, and Harry Johnson III (R), a partner with Arent Fox LLP, who follows me on Twitter, which makes me the Board’s Kevin Bacon.

Until yesterday, the Board had been operating with three members, two of whom, Sharon Block and Richard F. Griffin, Jr., were recess appointments of President Obama. Various courts of appeals had split on whether the intrasession appointments of Block and Griffin were constitutional.

Last month, the Supreme Court, which had already ruled that the Board is powerless to rule with less than a quorum of three members, agreed in National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning to decide the constitutional issue. But since we now have a full Board, it doesn’t much matter. Indeed, any Board ruling in doubt — quickie elections? — is sure to be ratified with the full complement of members.