Establishing a Second Emergency Board To Investigate Disputes Between the Long Island Rail Road Company and Certain of Its Employees Represented by Certain Labor Organizations

SI-generated grade · five published checks · not individually reviewed by a person · methodology

Executive Order 14374 faithfully executes section 9A of the Railway Labor Act by creating a temporary, neutral, fact-finding board with no permanent regulatory, punitive, or confiscatory power. It rests on the Commerce Clause and Take Care Clause, infringes no Bill of Rights protection, preserves due process through notice and final-offer procedures, and does not permanently centralize labor relations or individual liberty.

• ✓ Passes · Enumerated powers
  The President acts under explicit statutory authority, section 9A of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. 159a, which provides that the President shall appoint a second emergency board upon proper request. Congress enacted the RLA under Article I, Section 8, Clause 3, the Commerce Clause, and Clause 18, the Necessary and Proper Clause, to regulate interstate rail transportation and prevent interruptio…
• ✓ Passes · Bill of Rights
  The Order creates only an investigatory and reporting board. It compels no speech, establishes no religion, bans no assembly or press, seizes no persons or papers, compels no testimony, and imposes no punishment. Section 3 maintains the status quo for a limited period as provided by section 9A(h) of the Railway Labor Act, but it does not censor under the First Amendment, disarm under the Second Am…
• ✓ Passes · Individual sovereignty
  The Order imposes no direct restriction on belief, speech, private property use, or independent labor beyond the narrow, temporary RLA status-quo obligation that both carrier and employees make no unilateral change except by agreement until 60 days after the report. It does not prohibit striking or bargaining permanently, does not compel labor, and does not transfer property. Any burden is limited…
• ✓ Passes · Decentralization
  Under the Tenth Amendment four-question test: (1) An individual worker or family cannot resolve a multi-union carrier-wide rail labor dispute over wages and working conditions. (2) A county or local community cannot mediate Railway Labor Act bargaining or prevent an interruption to regional commuter commerce. (3) A single state cannot handle this alone because Congress has occupied this field unde…
• ✓ Passes · Due process and takings
  No deprivation or taking occurs. The Board only receives final offers under 45 U.S.C. 159a(f) and reports the most reasonable offer under 45 U.S.C. 159a(g) within 30 days each, with full notice to the parties. The status-quo period under 45 U.S.C. 159a(h) is time-limited, applies equally to carrier and labor, permits change by mutual agreement, and preserves presumption of innocence and Fifth Amen…

Sources: Federal Register: Executive Order 14374