NLRB to return to GOP majority; McFerran renomination blocked

In a dramatic 49-50 vote, the Senate blocked the renomination of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chair Lauren McFerran. By rejecting an attempt to close debate, the Senate assured that President-elect Trump will be able to seat a Republican majority on the Board almost at once.

Vote fails

Had the Senate invoked cloture, a vote to confirm McFerran would have established a Democratic majority on the five-member NLRB until August 2026. Such an outcome raised the prospect of an unprecedented attempt to oust a sitting Board member for political reasons alone. That is one crisis that has been avoided.

Now, by filling two Board vacancies on the five-member Board, the incoming president will have a Republican majority during his entire second term. Further, by adopting President Biden’s stratagem of not filling the two seats reserved for the opposition party, the Board will likely have only four voting members, three of whom will be Republicans, thus guaranteeing that every three-member panel will have a Republican majority. Because the Board’s decisional process is painstakingly slow, the current Board’s precedents will only gradually be reversed, but that process will now begin in January 2025.