Amazon, SpaceX and other companies are arguing the government agency that has protected labor rights since 1935 is actually unconstitutional

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Kate Andrias, Columbia University

(THE CONVERSATION) This article was published on March 25, 2024, before court rulings on some of the cases discussed.

, , and Trader Joe’s have all responded to allegations that they have violated labor laws with the same bold argument. The National Labor Relations Board, they assert in several ongoing legal proceedings, is unconstitutional.

that the NLRB is engaging in “an unlawful attempt … to subject Space X to an administrative proceeding whose structure violates Article II, the Fifth Amendment, and the Seventh Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.”

If these companies prevail, the entire process for holding union elections and for prosecuting employers who break labor laws – in place since the days of the New Deal – could collapse. That would leave U.S. workers more vulnerable to exploitation.

The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the board nearly a century ago, soon after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the law that created the NLRB and made clear...