The National Labor Relations Board on Thursday said rocket and satellite maker SpaceX improperly filed a lawsuit in Texas claiming the agency's structure is unconstitutional because the company believed it would be more likely to win a favorable ruling there.
The board in its first filing since SpaceX sued the agency last week told a federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, that the case has no connection to the state and should be transferred to Los Angeles, near SpaceX's headquarters where the board has accused the company of illegally firing engineers critical of CEO Elon Musk.
SpaceX's lawyers at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, including former NLRB Member Harry Johnson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In its lawsuit, SpaceX alleged the board's structure violates the U.S. Constitution because the agency's administrative law judges and its five members, who hear cases in house, are insulated from at-will removal by the U.S. president. The NLRB has not responded to those claims.
SpaceX sued one day after the board issued a complaint accusing the company of illegally firing eight engineers for sending a letter to executives criticizing Musk and the company's response to sexual harassment allegations.
SpaceX's lawsuit has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Rolando Olvera, who in November blocked the U.S. Department of Justice from pursuing an administrative case accusing SpaceX of refusing to hire refugees and asylum recipients. The company had sued the department, claiming its administrative judges were not properly appointed.
The NLRB in its filing on Thursday did not mention that case, but suggested that SpaceX believes it is more likely to prevail on its claims in front of a Texas judge.
SpaceX operates a launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas, which is near Brownsville. But most of the fired engineers worked at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, and the NLRB case will proceed before an administrative judge in Los Angeles, the board said.
On Monday, four of the fired engineers moved to intervene in the lawsuit and transfer the case to Los Angeles for the same reasons raised by the NLRB on Thursday.
The case is SpaceX v. National Labor Relations Board, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, No. 24-cv-0001.
For SpaceX: Catherine Eschbach, Harry Johnson and Michael Kenneally of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
For the NLRB: David Boehm
For the workers: Laurie Burgess of Burgess Law Offices; Anne Shaver and Nimish Desai of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein
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