Tatel , Circuit Judge : The Federal Labor Relations Authority ordered the Air Force to bargain collectively with its civilian employees over access to an on-base shoppette — a gas station and convenience store that forms part of the military's network of commissaries and exchanges. The Air Force challenges that decision, arguing, among other things, that the issue is not a proper subject of bargaining because Congress has given the military unfettered discretion to determine whether...
Rogers , Circuit Judge : The Public Service Company of New Mexico petitions for review of the decision and order of the National Labor Relations Board that it violated Sections 8(a)(1) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(1), (5). The company challenges three Board rulings, involving the company's failure to provide the Union with requested information, its unilateral changes to the grievance procedure under the parties' collective bargaining agreement ("CBA"),...
Rogers , Circuit Judge : NCR Corporation ("NCR") petitions for review of the decision and order of the National Labor Relations Board that it violated section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act ("Act"), 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(5) & (1) (2012), when it refused to bargain with the Union after a mail ballot election. NCR contends that the Board abused its discretion by refusing to consider seven late-received ballots because enforcement of its decision and order would result in the...
ROGERS , Circuit Judge and WILLIAMS, Senior Circuit Judge: In order to increase participation in federal elections, the National Voter Registration Act requires states to register eligible citizens who submit a complete and valid federal registration form. Although some states in recent years have enacted voter-registration laws that require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship, historically the federal form, which includes a list of state-specific voter-registration instructions, has...
SRINIVASAN , Circuit Judge : The National Labor Relations Act protects employees' right to engage in concerted activities. That right encompasses protesting an employer's actions or policies through an appeal to the public for support. But while the Act protects employees' right to engage in such third-party appeals, the Act also recognizes the prerogative of employers to discharge employees "for cause." Those two principles can come into tension. That can happen, for instance, when...
MILLETT , Circuit Judge : After collective-bargaining negotiations soured between Consolidated Communications, Inc. ("Consolidated") and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Local 702 ("Union"), Union members launched a strike at several company facilities. After the dust settled and the strikers returned to work, Consolidated disciplined several employees for alleged misconduct during the strike and eliminated a workplace position held by a union worker. The...
Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge Srinivasan . In 2012, Congress enacted the Spectrum Act. The Act responds to the rapidly growing demand for mobile broadband services by granting the Federal Communications Commission authority to reallocate a portion of the licensed airwaves from television broadcasters to mobile broadband providers. The Act contemplates the repurposing of licensed spectrum through a multi-step auction process. Broadcasters can offer to relinquish existing...
Srinivasan , Circuit Judge : The Trans Alaska Pipeline System is the sole means of transporting oil from Alaska's North Slope to the shipping terminal at Valdez, Alaska, roughly 800 miles to the south. Oil companies deposit crude oil extracted from their fields on the North Slope into the pipeline at its northern point. Although the companies' crude oil deposits differ in ways that affect their respective market values, the deposits necessarily become commingled in the pipeline. At the...
Brown , Circuit Judge : Appellants are three federal prisoners who spent several years housed in specially designated Communication Management Units (CMUs), a classification that meant family visits and communications with the outside world were curtailed. Appellants contend their designation to CMUs violated their due process rights. One appellant also alleges his continued CMU placement was in retaliation for protected speech in violation of the First Amendment. Finally, appellants seek...
Pillard , Circuit Judge : The United States appeals its liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for a portion of the cost of cleaning up hazardous substances at three California facilities owned by Lockheed Martin (Lockheed or the Company). The government's involvement at the facilities dates to the Cold War, when the Department of Defense contracted with Lockheed to build state-of-the-art, solid-propellant rockets. Lockheed's...
Pillard , Circuit Judge : This appeal is the latest chapter in an ongoing labor dispute between Ozburn-Hessey Logistics, LLC (OHL or the Company) and the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union (the Union). In 2009, the Union began a campaign to organize workers at the OHL's warehouse facilities in Memphis, Tennessee. That campaign culminated in a July 27, 2011, representation election, which the Union won by...
Srinivasan , Circuit Judge : In 1989, the National Labor Relations Board promulgated a rule aimed to address concerns about the undue proliferation of collective bargaining units in health care facilities. Excessive fragmentation of bargaining units was viewed to increase the potential for labor unrest, which could be particularly harmful to the public in the health care setting. The resulting rule, known as the Health Care Rule, established eight standardized bargaining units for acute-...
PILLARD , Circuit Judge : The National Labor Relations Board (the Board) determined that petitioner Care One at Madison Avenue (Care One or the Company) committed a series of unfair labor practices in an effort to prevent the certification of a union at its nursing home and rehabilitation facility in Morristown, New Jersey. After the union lost a representation election in March 2012, it filed objections and charges of unfair labor practices with the Board. The Board held that Care One...
PILLARD , Circuit Judge : The National Labor Relations Board concluded that petitioner Enterprise Leasing Company of Florida (Enterprise, or the Company) committed several unfair labor practices in late 2009 and early 2010 at a Miami, Florida, car rental facility. Enterprise violated the National Labor Relations Act (the Act), the Board determined, by telling employees it was terminating short-term disability benefits on account of their union membership, encouraging an employee to...
GRIFFITH , Circuit Judge : The Federal Election Commission prohibits unauthorized political committees, like Pursuing America's Greatness, from using candidates' names in the titles of their websites and social media pages. Pursuing America's Greatness sought a preliminary injunction against this rule, which the district court denied. We reverse the district court because the restriction, as applied to Pursuing America's Greatness, is a content-based ban on speech that likely violates the...
KAREN LECRAFT HENDERSON , Circuit Judge : The plaintiffs — victims of terrorist attacks and their family members — hold substantial unsatisfied money judgments against defendants Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran), Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and Syrian Arab Republic (Syria) arising out of claims brought pursuant to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). To satisfy the judgments, the plaintiffs sought to attach Internet data managed by the Internet Corporation for...
WILKINS , Circuit Judge : The Cowlitz are an American Indian tribe from southwestern Washington state. After refusing to sign a land cession treaty with the United States in 1855, President Lincoln by 1863 proclamation opened its land to non-Indian settlement. Without a land base, the Cowlitz scattered, and for decades federal Indian policy reflected a mistaken belief that they no longer existed as a distinct communal entity. After a formal process for federal acknowledgment came into being...
Millett , Circuit Judge : Quicken Loans, Inc., a company that provides mortgage loan services, imposes a number of workplace rules on its mortgage bankers. As relevant here, Quicken forbids its mortgage bankers to use or disclose a broad range of personnel information without Quicken's prior written consent or to criticize publicly the company and its management. The National Labor Relations Board determined that those rules run afoul of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 151 et...
KAREN LECRAFT HENDERSON , Circuit Judge : In 2007, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) issued Mingo Logan Coal Co. (Mingo Logan) a permit to excavate the tops of several West Virginia mountains, extract exposed coal and dispose of the excess soil and rock in three surrounding valleys containing streams. Four years later, after additional study, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decided that the project would result in "unacceptable adverse effect[s]" to...
BROWN , Circuit Judge : At issue in this appeal is whether the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") colored outside the lines of its authority. The district court held that it did, and we agree. The Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. 201 ("PHSA"), establishes coverage requirements for all health insurance plans except those it deems "excepted benefits." Only those forms of insurance specifically enumerated in the PHSA can qualify as an excepted benefit and, for the benefits...
