Update: On December 18, Crystal Carey was confirmed by the Senate to the role of General Counsel at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Notably, rather than receiving an individual vote, Carey was confirmed as part of a package of nearly 100 Trump nominees for roles all across the federal government. Senate Republicans recently changed procedural rules of the Senate to allow voting for or against the confirmation of large groups of nominees en masse, without a numerical limit on how many nominees can be voted on at one time. This will effectively limit debate and accountability on votes for individual nominees, and prevent the opposition party from blocking many individual nominees. However, this procedure will be limited to nominees for lower- and mid-level executive branch nominees, sub-Cabinet level positions, and ambassadorships. It also cannot be used to confirm judicial nominees.
On March 25, President Trump nominated Crystal Carey to serve as the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Carey is currently a partner at the law firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, which she joined in 2018. Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Carey was an NLRB attorney for eight years.
Morgan Lewis is one of the largest management-side law firms that currently represents corporations known for violating workers’ rights, including Amazon, SpaceX, Apple, and Tesla. Morgan Lewis is also pursuing the legal challenge that the NLRB is unconstitutional, despite several former NLRB members being employed at the firm.
By nominating Carey as the NLRB general counsel, President Trump has reaffirmed that the NLRB will rule on the side of employers over workers.