Trump Administration is relying on similar arguments in another lawsuit defending its removal of Biden appointee from labor board
Washington, DC (May 15, 2025) – Today, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia heard oral arguments in Cortes v. NLRB, a federal case in which New York-based Starbucks employees are challenging the structure of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as unconstitutional. The baristas, Ariana Cortes and Logan Karam, are receiving free legal representation from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
Cortes and Karam’s case, originally filed in 2023, was the first in the nation to advance the argument that NLRB board members’ removal protections – which insulate members of the federal labor board from accountability to the President except on very rare occasions – violate separation of powers doctrines in Article II of the Constitution. Since Foundation attorneys filed the baristas’ case, the Trump Administration advanced the same arguments to remove Biden NLRB Member Gwynne Wilcox from the Board, which is now the subject of ongoing litigation.
National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix issued the following statement on the oral arguments:
“Ms. Cortes and Mr. Karam stand up for untold numbers of workers around the country in their battle to reform the NLRB. For nearly a century, the federal labor board’s structure has let unelected bureaucrats grant their union boss cronies massive power over the nation’s workers, all while gutting workers’ right to decide freely for themselves whether or not union association is right for them.
“Nothing in Supreme Court case law permits a blatantly partisan agency like the NLRB to operate free of virtually any accountability to the elected President. While we’re glad that the Trump Administration is now fighting the NLRB’s unconstitutional structure as well, it should be remembered that behind every labor case and policy are American workers like Ms. Cortes and Mr. Karam, who deserve to have their rights adjudicated before an agency that is in harmony with the Constitution.”
The D.C. Circuit Court will hear Wilcox v. Trump, the case in which the Trump Administration is defending its decision to remove Gwynne Wilcox from the Board, tomorrow, May 16.
Starbucks Baristas’ Federal Case Began After Biden NLRB Disenfranchised Workers
On April 28, 2023, Cortes submitted a petition, supported by a majority of her colleagues, asking the NLRB to hold a decertification election at her Buffalo-area “Del-Chip” Starbucks store to remove SBWU union officials’ bargaining powers over workers. However, NLRB Region 3 rejected Cortes’ petition, citing unfair labor practice accusations made by SBWU union officials against the Starbucks Corporation. Notably, there was no established link between these allegations and the employees’ decertification request.
Similarly, Karam filed a decertification petition seeking a vote to remove the union at his Buffalo-area Starbucks store. Like Cortes’ petition, NLRB officials refuse to allow the vote to take place, citing claims made by SBWU officials. As a result, the workers remain trapped under union “representation” they oppose. This led Cortes and Karam to file their own federal lawsuit – the first in the nation challenging the NLRB’s structure as unconstitutional as a whole.
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.
