This Week in the Circuits: Amazon Challenges NLRB Structure (1)

Welcome to This Week in the Circuits, a look at the most significant cases up for argument on appeal.

Amazon.com Inc. will try to convince a panel of Ninth Circuit judges that the National Labor Relations Board shouldn’t be allowed to pursue an enforcement action against the e-commerce giant because its officials are unconstitutionally protected from being fired.

A NLRB regional director issued a complaint last year accusing Amazon of violating federal labor law by terminating its relationship with a contractor who handled deliveries in Southern California. The complaint—the first formal labor charges involving accusations that Amazon is a joint employer of its delivery drivers—is based off a general counsel’s office finding that the company should be held jointly responsible for drivers operating out of its Palmdale warehouse.

Amazon filed an Election Day 2024 lawsuit aiming to block the NLRB’s case from progressing, arguing that board members and in-house judges have unconstitutional job protections. It is one of 25 lawsuits filed last year that allege some part of the board’s structure violates the US Constitution, an issue that appears destined for the US Supreme Court.

“This insulation of executive officers from presidential oversight is contrary to the constitution, which vests all executive authority in the President of the United States—the head of the executive branch of government who, unlike NLRB Members and ALJs, is directly accountable to the electorate,” Amazon said in its appellant brief.

A federal trial court judge in February rejected Amazon’s request for a preliminary injunction that would bar the NLRB from proceeding while its lawsuit was active, prompting an appeal. At this stage it is unclear whether board officials would proceed with the underlying charges under President Donald Trump.

Thursday’s argument may focus more on procedural issues than the merits of the case. The NLRB argued in its brief that the lower court correctly held that a 1932 labor law known as the Norris-LaGuardia Act bars the kind of injunctive relief Amazon is seeking. Docket

Cases to Watch

Mortgage technology company workers who say they got a bad price for their company stock head to the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday to try and keep their claims in court despite objections from stock plan insiders, who say the now-terminated plan was amended to require arbitration. The case, which drew an amicus brief from the US Labor Department, gives the court a chance to consider a legal doctrine other circuits have used to keep ERISA disputes out of arbitration. Docket

The Sixth Circuit canceled scheduled Wednesday arguments in a records dispute between the IRS and manufacturer Eaton Corp., instead deciding the case in the agency’s favor based off of briefing. A panel upheld a lower court ruling that Eaton must turn over performance reviews of international employees as part of an IRS audit, rejecting the company’s argument that the request would violate the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. Read more from Tristan Navera.

An Eleventh Circuit panel on Wednesday will hear 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. defend its win over claims it infringed Edible IP LLC’s trademarks by buying them as ad keywords from Google and Bing. Docket

Zillow Group Inc. will argue Thursday that the Ninth Circuit should undo a class certification in an investor lawsuit alleging the real-estate website misrepresented its house-flipping business prospects. Docket