U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Wednesday issued a 72 page opinion (PDF) rejecting each of the arguments raised by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation and other business groups and found that the Amended Election Rules adopted by the National Labor Relations Board in December 2014, which took effect in April 2015, in an action that argued that the Board had exceeded its authority, violated the Administrative Procedures Act and that the Amended Rules were unconstitutional.

This is the second district court decision to reject such challenges to the Amended Election Rules. In April, Judge Robert L. Pitman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas rejected a similar challenge brought by the Associated Home Builders of Texas and the National Federation of Independent Businessmen.

Since the Amended Election Rules took effect in April, there has continued to be a dramatic increase in the number of petitions filed by unions across the county.

Clearly the dismissal of these challenges will not be the final answer to the questions surrounding the election rules.  Not only is it almost certain that these decisions will be reviewed on appeal, but Congressional oversight and, potentially, legislative action to reverse the Board’s rulemaking remains a possibility.