Thunder Basin Coal Co. v. Reich

Congress enacted the Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977 (the act) to protect the health and safety of miners. The secretary of labor (the secretary) (defendant) was tasked with enforcing the act, including conducting mine inspections while accompanied by a representative of the mine operator and a representative of the miners. Once the miners designated a representative, the mine operator was required to post information about the representative throughout the mine’s facilities. Challenges to enforcement actions under the act were reviewed by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Commission (the commission), and further appeals were reviewed by the appropriate United States court of appeals. In 1990, although the employees of Thunder Basin Coal Company (Thunder Basin) (plaintiff) were not members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), the employees selected two UMWA employees as their miner representatives. Thunder Basin refused to post information about the UMWA representatives in its facilities, arguing that the employees’ designation of the UMWA representatives violated its rights under the National Labor Relations Act. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (the administration) (defendant) ordered Thunder Basin to post the information. In response, Thunder Basin filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the secretary and the administration, seeking preenforcement injunctive relief from the administration’s order. Thunder Basin claimed that it would suffer irreparable harm if it was required to obey the administration’s order and post information about the UMWA representatives, because doing so would aid the UMWA in organizing Thunder Basin’s employees. The district court enjoined the administration’s order, finding that Thunder Basin had sufficiently shown that it might suffer irreparable harm if it was required to obey the order. The court of appeals reversed the district court. Thunder Basin appealed. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.