On June 22, the Senate confirmed the appointments of Brian Hayes, a Republican, and Mark Pearce, a Democrat, to the National Labor Relations Board, upping its membership to five. The newly confirmed members will serve five-year terms.

确认就​​在美国最高法院裁定NLRB在缺乏法律法定人数的27个月后进行决定的几天就进行了。董事会从2008年1月至2010年3月下旬与两名成员一起运营，并在那段时间内进行了审查。

2010年4月，奥巴马总统接班人任命了董事会的另外两名成员：皮尔斯和克雷格·贝克尔（Craig Becker）也是民主党人。参议院今天没有对贝克尔的提名投票；他的临时任命将于1月初宣誓就职。

At issue in the Supreme Court case,新工艺Steel LP诉NLRB，是董事会是否有法律授权在空缺三个席位的情况下发出决定的问题。在6月17日的5-4判决中，美国高等法院裁定没有。根据1947年的《塔夫脱 - 哈特利法》，NLRB不能以少于三名成员的法定人数做出决定。

As a result of the high court’s decision, the NLRB likely will need to revisit hundreds of past decisions. The question of a two-member board’s legal authority has been raised in five more cases pending before the Supreme Court, and 69 that are pending before federal appellate courts. Those cases are expected to be remanded to the board.

工会对最高法院的裁决批评，称这将推迟对重要劳动纠纷的行动。AFL-CIO的总法律顾问Lynn Rhinehart说：“正如常态一样，工人再次受到公司摊位策略的惩罚。”

But the Associated General Contractors’s associated general counsel, Denise Gold, says the ruling should have minimal impact on the construction industry beyond those firms and individuals directly involved in the cases declared invalid. During the period when three seats sat vacant, the board “didn’t decide any highly controversial cases,” she says. With only two members, she adds, “it would have been hard for them to come to a decision.”