The dispute involves the much-litigated issue of whether immigration judges are management officials or not. Image: Zolnierek/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffA federal appeals court has refused to intervene in a dispute over the union eligibility status of Justice Department immigration judges, given that the issue still is before the FLRA.
Case No. 22-1028 before the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit involves the much-litigated issue of whether those judges are management officials, and thus ineligible for union representation. At the request of the Trump administration, in 2020 the FLRA—then with a Republican majority—held that they are management officials because their decisions can determine agency policy.
That reversed the policy of the prior four decades in which the National Association of Immigration Judges had bargained on their behalf. It was seen as a potential precedent for decertifying other unions, as well.
A series of appeals followed, including an early 2022 decision by the FLRA—which at the time still had a Republican majority—rejecting the union’s request to reconsider that ruling. The suit before the circuit court asked the court to overturn that ruling, but without addressing the underlying issue the court said the suit is “premature” since a second request for reconsideration is still pending at the FLRA.
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