National Aeronautics & Space Administration v. Federal Labor Relations Authority

Justice Thomas,

with whom The ChieF Justice, Justice O’Connor, and Justice Scalia join, dissenting.

In light of the independence guaranteed Inspectors General by the Inspector General Act of 1978, 5 U. S. C. App. § 1 et seq., p. 1381, investigators employed in the Office of Inspector General (OIG) will not represent agency management in the typical case. There is no basis for concluding, as the Federal Labor Relations Authority (Authority) *247did, that in this case the investigator from OIG for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was a “representative of the agency” within the…