The United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the NLRB’s new rules on extremely fast union elections had not been properly issued, due to lack of a quorum. While Member Brian Hayes participated in earlier portions of the rulemaking process, he did not participate in the final deliberations or vote upon the rule itself.  With only two other members of the Board in office at the time, that meant only two members acted.  Since a quorum for the Board to conduct business is three members, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg found the rule invalid.  He did not reach the other arguments raised by the plaintiffs in the case (the U. S. Chamber of Commerce and the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace).  In light of the nature of the ruling, the Board can elect to appeal, or it can take action upon the rulemaking record with a quorum, which it now can muster (at least assuming that the recess appointments made by President Obama are found to be valid.)  The order of Judge Boasberg is below.