Ideological Voting on the National Labor Relations Board

Abstract

This article considers the role that ideology has played in the decision making of the National Labor Relations Board. Ideology, as used herein, is generally understood as normative commitments and refers, more specifically, to the political party of the President appointing an individual to a seat on the NLRB, the Board member's political party affiliation, and the professional background of the Board member prior to his or her appointment. The article concludes that the ideology of Board members, so understood, is an important jurisprudential element, and that in certain contested areas of labor law and policy ideology has been a persistent and, in many instances, a vote-predictive factor in NLRB decisions.

Keywords: labor law, NLRB, ideology, Chevron, administrative law