As explained by the Blog of the Legal Times, an emergency petition has been filed with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg raising the validity of the recess appointments to the NLRB. The petition was filed by Paul Clement on behalf of a company that is resisting an NLRB effort to require it to rehire striking nursing care workers in Connecticut. Clement argues that the recess appointments issue will inevitably reach the Supreme Court following the D.C. Circuit’s decision in the Noel Canning case so (I guess) the Court might as well go ahead and consider the issue now.
Justice Alito’s sister appears as counsel on the application which means, I assume, that he would have to recuse himself from the case.
Update: after Justice Ginsberg denied the application, Clement filed the application with Justice Scalia.
Update 2: That didn’t work either.