Washington, D.C. ( June 26, 2014) - The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), the sole national association representing all segments of the 1.8 million-employee lodging industry, issued the following statement in response to today's announcement by the United States Supreme Court that the Justices have denied the appeal of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the case NLRB v. Noel Canning:

"The Supreme Court's ruling today underscores the argument the lodging industry and other concerned parties have made since the beginning: the Administration put in place an unconstitutional quorum of NLRB members which severely limited their ability to conduct business," said Katherine Lugar, AH&LA president/CEO. "As a result, the Board was not lawfully empowered to issue rulings and policies affecting the American workforce. Both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the U .S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled these recess appointments in violation of the U.S. Constitution, and today the high court has confirmed those rulings. Going forward, we trust the Administration will utilize the constitutionally-mandated process with future nominations."

On January 4, 2012, the Obama Administration made three recess appointments to fill vacancies on the NLRB while the Senate was in a pro forma session. Throughout this process, AH&LA contended that bypassing the Senate to fill these vacancies violated the Constitution, leaving the NLRB with only one active member and lacking the necessary quorum for conducting much of its business since the date of their appointment.