Court Backs Pentagon on NSPS Rules

A federal appeals court has sided with DoD and against a group of federal unions contesting the labor-management relations and several other provisions of the national security personnel system, overturning an injunction issued by a lower court against the rules a year ago. The appeals court for the District of Columbia in a split 2-1 decision held, in essence, that under the law creating NSPS, DoD gained authority—but in the case of union rights only for about 30 more months, unless re-authorized—to waive many standard provisions of civil service law. The decision turned on a detailed analysis of the 2003 law authorizing NSPS, which in various sections speaks of retaining such rights and in others of waiving them.