Labor Relations Radio, Ep. 65—An interview with Buck Dougherty, one of the attorneys suing NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo

Last week, on March 16th, a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan against the National Labor Relations Board’s General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo (aka ‘The Memo Writer’).

At issue, according to a report by The Center Square, was a public memorandum announcing that she would “urge the Board to correct its longstanding precedent that allowed business owners to speak to their employees about unionization” and the ‘chilling effect’ her memo has had on employers’ First Amendment rights.

The plaintiff in the lawsuit is the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of Michigan, a statewide trade association.

In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, Buck Dougherty, a Senior Attorney at the Liberty Justice Center, and one of the attorneys representing ABC of Michigan, discusses the lawsuit and its possible ramifications.

“Courts have made it clear that when a government official’s speech is not an attempt to convince but an attempt to coerce, then that official has crossed the line into threatening behavior,” LJC senior attorney Buck Dougherty said in a statement. “And the Supreme Court held many years ago in its Bantam Books decision that a threat of prosecution designed as a censorship scheme violates the First Amendment.”

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Related:

• Trade association sues labor board prosecutor over alleged First Amendment violations

• The Lawsuit: Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan, plaintiff v. Honorable Jennifer A. Abruzzo, in her official capacity as General Counsel, National Labor Relations Board, defendant

• Labor Relations Radio, Ep. 31—Guest: Attorney Matt Miller On The Texas Lawsuit Against The NLRB's Attempt To Restrict Employer Speech

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For prior episodes of Labor Relations Radio, go here.

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