President Obama Nominates Two to Serve on the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Obama nominated Raymond T. Chen and Todd M. Hughes to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

" Raymond T. Chen and Todd M. Hughes have displayed exceptional dedication to public service throughout their careers," President Obama said. "I am honored to nominate them today to serve the American people on the United States Court of Appeals. I am confident that they will be judicious and esteemed additions to the Federal Circuit."

Raymond T. Chen:  Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Raymond T. Chen currently serves as the Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property Law and Solicitor for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a position he has held since 2008. 

Chen received his B.S. in electrical engineering in 1990 from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his J.D. in 1994 from the New York University School of Law.  After graduating from law school, he joined Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear, a boutique intellectual property law firm in Irvine, California, where he prosecuted patents and represented clients in intellectual property litigation.  From 1996 to 1998, Chen served as a Technical Assistant at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, performing the functions of a staff attorney.  At the end of his two-year term, he joined the USPTO as Associate Solicitor and remained in that role until his promotion to Solicitor in 2008.   Since joining the USPTO, Chen has represented the agency in numerous appeals before the Federal Circuit and personally argued over 20 cases, issued guidance to patent examiners to ensure consistency with developing law, advised the agency on legal and policy issues, and helped promulgate regulations.  He has co-chaired the Patent and Trademark Office Committee of the Federal Circuit Bar Association and is a member of the Advisory Council for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. 

Todd M. Hughes:  Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Todd M. Hughes is Deputy Director of the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Civil Division at the United States Department of Justice, a position he has held since 2007.  He also has served as an adjunct lecturer in law with the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and as an instructor for Duke University’s writing program. 

Hughes received his A.B. from Harvard College in 1989 and completed a joint degree program with Duke University, earning both his J.D. with honors and his M.A. in English in 1992.  After graduating from law school, Hughes clerked for the Honorable Robert B. Krupansky of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  In 1994, he joined the Commercial Litigation Branch as a trial attorney.  Five years later, he was appointed to be Assistant Director for Commercial Litigation, a role he held until assuming the title of Deputy Director in 2007.  Throughout his career with the Department of Justice, Hughes’s practice has been devoted to matters of federal personnel law, veterans’ benefits, international trade, government contracts, and jurisdictional issues regarding the United States Court of Federal Claims.  He has extensive experience before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the United States Court of International Trade, and the United States Court of Federal Claims, and he has garnered a number of special commendations from the Department of Justice and a special contribution award from the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

President Obama urges Congress to act to avoid a series of harmful and automatic cuts—called a sequester—from going into effect that would hurt our economy and the middle class and threaten thousands of American jobs.

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Vice President Biden's Chief of Staff Bruce Reed sat down with us to give us a quick update on the work the President and Vice President have been doing since the President released his plan to reduce gun violence.

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Obama NLRB’s Ambush Election Rules Smacked Down By Circuit Court…For Now

On Monday, in a nice victory for America’s union-free workplace, Barack Obama’s pro-union appointees at the National Labor Relations Board had their recently-imposed rules allowing for so-called “ambush” (or “quickie”) union elections overturned by the District Court for the District of Columbia.

In December, the Obama NLRB promulgated new rules (which went into effect on April 30th) that eviscerated an employer’s right to challenge a union’s petition to hold an election on unionizing select groups of employees (called units). This evisceration opened the door for union elections to take place in as little as 17 days from petition filing—down considerably from the NLRB’s median time frame of 38 days.

In its Monday ruling, the District Court cited Woody Allen as it ruled that the NLRB’s December promulgation did not have the required quorum:

According to Woody Allen, eighty percent of life is just showing up. When it comes to satisfying a quorum requirement, though, showing up is even more important than that. Indeed, it is the only thing that matters – even when the quorum is constituted electronically.  In this case, because no quorum ever existed for the pivotal vote in question, the Court must hold that the challenged rule is invalid.

The challenge to the rule was brought by the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and its litigation partners at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

In a statement, CDW chairman Geoffrey Burr stated:

“Employers are greatly gratified that the Court has overturned a rule that would have been bad for employees and employers and especially hard on small business owners who would have been left with mere days to navigate an often-arcane NLRB process.”

While the Court’s ruling is certainly welcome news for union-free employers and employees alike, it does not mean the issue is dead.

Since the Court’s overturning of the NLRB’s rules were based on the fact that the Board did not have a quorum, the question now becomes: Will the constitutionally-questionable recess appointments Barack Obama made to the NLRB in January have the legal standing to simply re-impose the ambush election rules?

As the attorneys at Labor Relations Today wrote yesterday:

This decision foreshadows the coming showdown over President Obama’s January 2012 “recess” appointments.  Judge Boasberg’s decision strongly suggests that if there is an interest in a fully functional National Labor Relations Board, there must be a fully seated Board — or at least a full quorum of three like-minded Members who will participate in actions.

Renowned labor attorney Michael J. Lotito of the law firm Littler Mendelson summarized the Monday ruling this way:  ”This is not over by a long shot but this was a nice win.”

Related: NLRB Can Revive Speedy Union Vote Rule Judge Threw Out

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“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

Cross-posted on LaborUnionReport.com

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