Last week, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) concluded that the Federalist’s top manager, Ben Domenech, violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when, on the same day as a 2019 Vox Media union walkout, Domenech tweeted “FYI @fdrlst first one of you tries to unionize I swear I’ll send you back to the salt mine.”

This is an obviously correct decision that is consistent with both the statute and the NRLB case law. Section 8(a)(1) of the NLRA declares that it is an unfair labor practice to “interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7.” Section 7 rights include the “right to . . . form, join, or assist labor organizations.” Threatening to retaliate against any worker who tries to unionize clearly interferes with and coerces employees in the exercise of their union rights.

Instead of settling the case, at no cost, in exchange for deleting the tweet and posting a notice promising not to interfere with union organizing, Domenech decided to procure the services of a crank legal organization called the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), led by a Mr Hamburger. The NCLA, which appears to have no labor lawyers on staff, went on to embarrass itself in the NLRB proceeding, at one point moving to dismiss the case based on jurisdictional requirements in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, only to be informed by the agency that NLRB proceedings have never been governed by those rules.